I equate this feeling to Christmas...

[aggypryd]

...I just love it when Duke loses... ;D

What in the world happened to the Wolfpack?

[RDF]

What happened to the Wolfpack is that they SUCKED. Julius Hodge played to his level of "big game" performances and the battle of the SNORE was won by Wisconsin who took the ball to the hoop more and won because of it.

The ACC has been exposed for the overrated Conference it is tonight--they lost to a mediocre Wisconsin team and Duke got punked by Michigan State with signature play of tournament being Maurice Ager throwing down on JJ Redick's sorry butt!!!

Then you have an extremely limited Nova team--Sumpter is their best all around player--and they get hosed by Officials to let Cryin' Roy advance. That Tar Heel team should've won that game by at least 20 pts but they just can't play a good game when they aren't allowed to get out and run layup drills. Felton is an average player when he's got to play halfcourt basketball--great talent but as a JR he should be better at all aspects of the game.

And enough with the analysis of McCant's facial expressions and "mood". I don't care about that guy anymore than any other player and who gives a flying you know what if Rashad's "into the game". I don't care and only people who do/should are UNC fans. They are most talented team but they have a feel of one that's not going to reach their potential--too much style over substance and lacksidasical play.

[Nevada Hoya]

It looks like the Big Ten was the big winner tonight, and with #1 seed Illinois, they may be the conference winner this year.

[Deleted]

RDF said:

The ACC has been exposed for the overrated Conference it is tonight--they lost to a mediocre Wisconsin team and Duke got punked by Michigan State with signature play of tournament being Maurice Ager throwing down on JJ Redick's sorry butt!!!

Then you have an extremely limited Nova team--Sumpter is their best all around player--and they get hosed by Officials to let Cryin' Roy advance. That Tar Heel team should've won that game by at least 20 pts but they just can't play a good game when they aren't allowed to get out and run layup drills. Felton is an average player when he's got to play halfcourt basketball--great talent but as a JR he should be better at all aspects of the game.

I love ya, RDF - but couldn't the same be said for our beloved Big East? We've got one Elite Eight team, they've got one Elite Eight team. Their teams at least lasted longer and didn't fold against this overrated NC State team and a bunch of nobodys from Vermont. At least Pitt lost to a team that was legit and likely better than them in Pacific. I think all the big conferences have been a bit of a let down as a whole - except the Big Ten, which has more than avenged their shoddy performance in the ACC-Big Ten challenge earlier in the year.

[RDF]

I think Big East proved itself simply by having West Virginia a team that was at best 7th best in Conference during the regular season and a depleted Villanova team (yes one player as good as Sumpter makes a difference) beat Wake Forest and take the most talented team/best team in ACC to a 1 pt game. I don't look at the overall record, I look at how you play top to bottom in a conference and Big East year in, year out, has strong teams overall. What other league can say that or more importantly show it? It's the only league where you see bottom tier teams beat good teams consistently because they are ALLOWED to when they play well--whereas the ACC will screw the team--be it a Clemson or Florida State to the point they have to be 20 pts better to win by 1 pt and give the upper tier teams chances to win even if they are undeserved--- see the Tech-UNC ACC Semifinal or any Duke game where they struggle.

As for the Big 10, I give them credit for being able to handle the situation provided to them. I don't think Wisconsin would've beaten Kansas and I don't think that Michigan State would've beaten Syracuse but they took care of their end and those teams didn't. Playing Vermont and Bucknell to get to Sweet 16 doesn't mean you had a good conference, it means you did what you should--beat overmatched "cinderella" teams who are only good enough to win one game.

[NJHoya95]

Does anyone think that Dick Vitale is able to get out of bed this morning now that his beloved Dukies were exposed as the fraud they are?

He must be a mess today. It it a great day indeed. The Easter Bunny came two days early in my house.

[prhoya]

Cry, Dukie V., cry... Your doopsy-do player JJ Redick is a fraud. Sure you're going to make a lot of baskets if you shoot it as much as he does.

[prhoya]

I'm sure Dukie V. again will pick them to finish top four in his pre-season poll, and put two Duke players in his pre-season All-Rolls Royce team.

[Big Dog]

I could have filled out fifty brackets and I never would have put the three teams from the Big Ten in the elite eight. Of course, Wisconsin hasn't had to play anybody yet. But still.

Isn't it funny how the Syracuse bracket, about which Billy Packer and Jim Nantz were panting during the Selection Show, has turned into a joke? Does anybody remember this? With 1. UNC, 2. UConn, 3. Kansas, 4. Florida, I recall Nantz saying "this may be the greatest bracket we've ever seen in the NCAA tournament". Oops.

I wonder if "self-proclaimed-superprognosticator" Joe Hoya picked all of these results.

[the_way]

The ACC has always been a "soft" and overrated conference. It just well-liked by the media. Big Ten plays a little more physical with their style of play and you can see how it affected the ACC teams last night. The Big East was strong this year from top to bottom.

As for the UNC game. It was Christmas last night for the Tarheels because the ,ehem,"traveling" call on Villanova was an early present from Santa to UNC.

[Deleted]

RDF said:

I think Big East proved itself simply by having West Virginia a team that was at best 7th best in Conference during the regular season and a depleted Villanova team (yes one player as good as Sumpter makes a difference) beat Wake Forest and take the most talented team/best team in ACC to a 1 pt game. I don't look at the overall record, I look at how you play top to bottom in a conference and Big East year in, year out, has strong teams overall. What other league can say that or more importantly show it? It's the only league where you see bottom tier teams beat good teams consistently because they are ALLOWED to when they play well--whereas the ACC will screw the team--be it a Clemson or Florida State to the point they have to be 20 pts better to win by 1 pt and give the upper tier teams chances to win even if they are undeserved--- see the Tech-UNC ACC Semifinal or any Duke game where they struggle.

As for the Big 10, I give them credit for being able to handle the situation provided to them. I don't think Wisconsin would've beaten Kansas and I don't think that Michigan State would've beaten Syracuse but they took care of their end and those teams didn't. Playing Vermont and Bucknell to get to Sweet 16 doesn't mean you had a good conference, it means you did what you should--beat overmatched "cinderella" teams who are only good enough to win one game.

RDF - I completely agree with you: I think top to bottom, the Big East was the best conference in the nation this past season, no matter what the RPI crap said. However, when it comes to the tourney, the Big East didn't have a good showing. 'Nova and WVU are great stories, but Pitt, Syracuse and UConn didn't even show up, UConn losing to the team you declared as horribly overrated (which I agree with) - however the fact remains - the top of the BE caved when it counted, the top of the ACC went much deeper. As for playing Kansas, c'mon... they were garbage after the loss at 'Nova, were bound to lose in the first round - THEY were THE overrated team of the tourney, bar none. And 'Cuse? C'mon... that was the fashionable thing to do this post-season - we as Hoya fans should know that despite Warrick and McNamara, this was not a very strong Orange team... the upset was no shock to me, or a lot of other people who had them bowing out against Vermont. I actually think you could take all the criticisms people had of this Duke team and apply them to Syracuse this season.

Off topic, but this 'Zona-Illinois game is about as good as the WVU-Wake game. If only Bilas wasn't on the call...