The Parents' Basement

Scoreboard

Bo — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:01:39 +0000

Well, it looks like the UCTPE championship belt is going to be changing hands come Sunday afternoon, as I’m sitting on a sizable 341-293 lead, with a lot of seeds still with a chance to sprout. The biggest swing in my favor yesterday was the Minnesota win over Michigan St. in the Big Ten tourney, as I have Minnesota in the finals and Pat had Michigan St. winning the tourney, so he can’t get that coveted 9-point bonus.

I’m pretty sure that even if every game goes Pat’s way that I’ll still come out on top, but I’m aiming to set the all-time high score mark.

Of the tournaments still to be decided …

America East – Pat’s done since he picked Stony Brook, I can pick up another champion if Sorrentine and Coppenrath pull it out.

ACC – We both picked Duke to win, so that means we can both root against them without any second thoughts.

Atlantic 10 – One of the bigger games in our matchup is the semifinal between Xavier and Richmond. Pat tabbed Xavier to win the tourney and I went with the Spiders. As an aside, the technical foul at the end of the Dayton-Xavier game was just an absurd way for a game to end.

Big East – Pat’s got no one, I’ve got West Virginia winning it all, so if Gansey comes through there it’s definitely all over.

Big Ten – We actually both lost our champs yesterday because I picked Wisconsin. I can get another 3 from Tubby and Pat’s done here.

Big 12 – We both have Kansas.

Big West – No blood left, we both lost on Pacific.

C-USA – I’ve got UTEP, Pat’s done.

MAC – Pat can get a HUGE 6 points with an Akron win here.

MEAC – Morgan St. baby, serves you right for dissing the Bears Pat.

MWC – Both blew it with the Mormons.

SEC – Big Kentucky/Tennessee game as Pat has the Vols winning that one and then losing to Vandy in the champ. game, which is still possible. I, on the other hand, made the wise decision to pick the better team to win.

Southland – We both took Sam Houston, forsaking our roots two days before Stone Cold’s return to RAW.

SWAC – I can pick up another champion if Pine Bluff pulls it out.

WAC – We both picked Utah St.

Finally, just wanted to reiterate the notion from last year that the results rely too much on the higher conferences. It is indeed a little ridiculous that correctly picking the winner of the SWAC tournament is worth the same as picking the winner of the play-in game in the PAC 10, so perhaps we need to re-work the rules a bit for next year’s edition. Until then, we’re only a day away from my coronation.

Score Update and Bo’s Final Picks

Bo — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:34:52 +0000

Pat chipped away at the lead a little bit yesterday and added another champion to his belt when Robert Morris beat Quinnipiac in the NEC final. The score now stands at 206-179 with the majority of the points available still to be awarded. And the performance by Montana’s Anthony Johnson last night was awesome and I only saw the highlights and the last 2 minutes. Way to make Pat pay for picking Weber.

WAC (2-pointer)

Quarters: #1 Utah St. over #8 Boise St., #4 La. Tech over #5 Fresno St., #6 San Jose St. over #3 New Mexico St., #2 Nevada over Idaho

Semis: Utah St. over La. Tech, Nevada over SJ St.

Champion: Utah St.

Utah St. is just better than everyone else, but Nevada does have home court advantage.

Mountain West (3-pointer)

Quarters: #1 New Mexico over #9 Air Force, #4 San Diego St. over #5 Colorado St., #3 UNLV over #6 Utah, #2 BYU over #7 TCU

Semis: San Diego St. over New Mexico, BYU over UNLV

Champion: BYU

Have a feeling that New Mexico slips up. Every year I think UNLV can steal this tourney because it’s in Vegas but I’m not falling for it this time.

SEC (3-pointer)

1st round: #5 South Carolina over #4 Alabama, #3 Tennessee over #6 LSU, #4 Florida over #5 Auburn, #6 Georgia over #3 Arkansas

Quarters: #1 Kentucky over South Carolina, Tennessee over #2 Mississippi, Florida over #1 Mississippi St., #2 Vanderbilt over Georgia

Semis: Kentucky over Tennessee, Vanderbilt over Florida

Champion: Kentucky

I understand Pat’s point that UK could be disinterested by this tournament, but I still think they win it. Also notice that I picked the SEC East in every head-to-head game with a west team because I think the disparity is that great.

Big Ten (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 Michigan over #9 Iowa, #6 Minnesota over #11 Penn St., #7 Northwestern over #10 Indiana

Quarters: #1 Ohio St. over Michigan, #4 Wisconsin over #5 Illinois, Minnesota over #3 Michigan St., #2 Purdue over Northwestern

Semis: Wisconsin over Ohio State, Minnesota over Purdue

Champion: Wisconsin

Like Pat, I’m a huge Izzo fan come March but I think they’re going to make their run in the real tournament and Minnesota is a bit underrated. I also think Ohio State will do very well in the big dance, but I can see them slipping up here.

ACC (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 Boston College over #9 Virginia, #5 Wake Forest over #12 Miami, #10 UNC over #7 Georgia Tech, #6 Clemson over #11 NC State

Quarters: #1 Duke over BC, #4 Virginia Tech over Wake, #2 Maryland over UNC, Clemson over #3 Florida State

Semis: Duke over Va Tech, Maryland over Clemson

Champion: Duke

Also think that Duke wins the tournament and it hurt to pick against Wake in the second round but I just don’t think they’re disciplined enough to win two games in a row right now. I’m calling you out Aminu, prove me wrong.

Pat’s Final Picks

Pat — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:15:16 +0000

Well, we’ve reached the end of the line here on our picks. I’m pretty sure I gained ground on Bo yesterday, so at least I have a heartbeat going into the weekend. And by the way, fuck you, Weber State. Thanks for choking away points from me.

ACC

1st Round: UVA over BC, Wake over Miami, Georgia Tech over UNC, Clemson over NC State

2nd Round: Duke over UVA, Wake over Va. Tech, Georgia Tech over Maryland, Clemson over FSU

Semifinals: Duke over Wake, Clemson over Georgia Tech

Finals: Duke over Clemson

Thoughts: Going with my head over my heart here. Duke has won this tournament 8 of the past 11 years, and that includes a couple years (including both UNC championship seasons) when they had no business winning. For some reason, they just own this tournament. And this year they actually have the best team, so unfortunately, I think they’ll get the title and a 1 seed.

SEC

1st Round: South Carolina over Alabama, Tennessee over LSU, Florida over Auburn, Arkansas over Georgia

2nd Round: Kentucky over South Carolina, Tennessee over Ole Miss, Florida over Mississippi State, Vandy over Arkansas

Semifinals: Tennessee over Kentucky, Vandy over Florida

Finals: Vandy over Tennessee

Thoughts: Kentucky just doesn’t seem like the type of team that is going to give a shit about this tournament. It means almost nothing to them, so I think they get knocked off.

Big 10

1st Round: Michigan over Iowa, Indiana over Northwestern, Minnesota over Penn State

2nd Round: Ohio State over Michigan, Wisconsin over Illinois, Purdue over Indiana, Michigan State over Minnesota

Semifinals: Wisconsin over Ohio State, Michigan State over Purdue

Finals: Michigan State over Wisconsin

Thoughts: We’re getting to that time of year when you should never pick against Tom Izzo.

WAC

1st Round: Utah State over Boise State, La. Tech over Fresno State, Nevada over Idaho, NMSU over SJSU

2nd Round: Utah State over La. Tech, NMSU over Nevada

Finals: Utah State over NMSU

Thoughts: Very chalky

MWC

2nd Round (we missed a 1 game 1st Round): New Mexico over Air Force, San Diego State over Colorado State, BYU over TCU, UNLV over Utah

Semifinals: San Diego State over New Mexico, BYU over UNLV

Finals: BYU over San Diego State

Thoughts: Alright, that’s it. Let’s hope for a late rally so the people’s champ can keep his belt.

Pat’s Wednesday Picks

Pat — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:49:06 +0000

Big 12

1st Round: Colorado over Texas Tech, Missouri over Nebraska, Oklahoma State over Oklahoma, Texas over Iowa State

2nd Round: Kansas over Colorado, Missouri over Texas A&M, Oklahoma State over K-State, Texas over Baylor

Semifinals: Kansas over Missouri, Oklahoma State over Texas

Finals: Kansas over Oklahoma State

Thoughts: Kansas is the best team in the country, but I have a feeling they’ll lose at some point in the NCAA tournament. I do not, however, think they will lose in this tournament.

Pac- 10

1st Round: Oregon over Washington State

2nd Round: California over Oregon, UCLA over Arizona, Washington over Oregon State, Arizona State over Stanford

Semifinals: UCLA over California, Arizona State over Washington

Finals: Arizona State over UCLA

Thoughts: Is this conference a joke this year or what?

Big West (Re-seed Conference)

1st Round: Fullerton over Northridge, UC-Irvine over Cal Poly

2nd Round: Long Beach State over Irvine, UC-Davis over Fullerton

Semfinals: UCSB over UC-Davis, Pacific over Long Beach State

Finals: Pacific over UCSB

Thoughts: Let’s do this for Guillaume Yango.

SWAC

1st Round: Jackson State over Grambling, Prairie View over Texas Southern, Alabama State over Alabama A&M, Ark-Pine Bluff over MVSU

Semifinals: Jackson State over Prairie View, Alabama State over Pine Bluff

Finals: Jackson State over Alabama State

Thoughts: Literally have nothing to say about this.

Southland

1st Round: Sam Houston State over Nicholls State, Texas State over SE Louisiana, Texas A&M-CC over UTSA, Stephen F. Austin over Arlington

Semifinals: Sam Houston over Texas State, A&M-CC over Stephen F. Austin

Finals: Sam Houston over A&M-CC

Thoughts: Sorry, Stone Cold, couldn’t pick you this year.

CUSA

1st Round: SMU over UCF, Tulsa over Rice, USM over Tulane, Houston over ECU

2nd Round: UTEP over SMU, Tulsa over Marshall, UAB over Southern Miss, Memphis over Houston

Semifinals: UTEP over Tulsa, Memphis over UAB

Finals: Memphis over UTEP

Thoughts: Apologies to Filiberto.

Bo’s 3-10 Picks And Score Update

Bo — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:32:15 +0000

Three championships were decided last night, with Butler winning the Horizon league, Oakland winning the Summit and North Texas beating Troy in the Sun Belt. Pat and I both got bonus points for picking Butler, but Pat lost an opportunity in the Sun Belt after selling his soul to Troy for the second straight year. He did win the head-to-head matchup in the Summit championship though, when his chalk Oakland pick beat my IUPUI pick. The points standings are currently
Bo – 182 points (7 champions picked)
Pat – 143 points (4 champions picked)

Onto the picks …

SWAC (1-pointer)

1st round: #1 Jackson St. over #8 Grambling, #5 Texas Southern over #4 Prairie View, #3 Alabama St. over #6 Alabama A&M, #2 Arkansas Pine Bluff over #7 Misississippi Valley St.

Semis: Jackson St. over Texas Southern, Pine Bluff over Alabama St.

Champion: Pine Bluff

Southland (1-pointer)

1st round: #1 Sam Houston St. over #8 Nicholls St., #4 SE Louisiana over #5 Texas St., #6 UT-San Antonio over #3 Texas A&M-CC, #2 Stephen F. Austin over #7 UT-Arlington

Semis: Sam Houston over SE LA, Stephen F. Austin over UT-SA

Champion: Sam Houston

Big West (2-pointer) - Re-seeder

1st round: #8 Cal St. Northridge over #5 Cal St. Fullerton, #7 UC-Irvine over #6 Cal-Poly

Quarters: #3 Long Beach St. over CS-Northridge, #4 UC-Davis over UC-Irvine

Semis: #1 UC-Santa Barbara over UC-Davis, #2 Pacific over Long Beach St.

Champion: Pacific

Conference USA (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 SMU over #9 UCF, #5 Tulsa over #12 Rice, #6 Southern Miss over #11 Tulane, #7 Houston over #10 ECU

Quarters: #1 UTEP over SMU, #4 Marshall over Tulsa, #3 UAB over So. Miss, #2 Memphis over Houston

Semis: UTEP over Marshall, Memphis over UAB

Champion: UTEP

Didn’t intend to go all chalk there but that’s exactly what’s going to happen so I don’t feel bad about it.

Pac-10 (3-pointer)

1st round: #9 Washington St. over #8 Oregon

Quarters: #1 Cal over Wash. St., #5 UCLA over #4 Arizona, #3 Washington over #6 Oregon St., #2 Arizona State over #7 Stanford

Semis: Cal over UCLA, Washington over Arizona St.

Champion: Washington

I have a feeling the winner of the semi between ASU and Washington wins the tourney, so take that for the nothing it’s worth.

Big XII (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 Colorado over #9 Texas Tech, #5 Missouri over #12 Nebraska, #6 Texas over #11 Baylor, #7 Oklahoma St. over #10 Oklahoma

Quarters: #1 Kansas over Colorado, Missouri over #4 Texas A&M, Texas over #3 Baylor, #2 Kansas St. over Oklahoma St.

Semis: Kansas over Missouri, Kansas St. over Texas

Champion: Kansas

Sherron Collins is just tremendous, but seriously, what the hell happened to Willie Warren?

SWAC (1-pointer)

Pat’s Tuesday Picks

Pat — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:58:01 +0000

MEAC

1st Round: Howard over NC A&T, UMES over Coppin State, Bethune Cookman over FAMU

2nd Round: Morgan State over Howard, Norfolk State over Hampton, UMES over South Carolina State, Delaware State over Bethune Cookman

Semifinals: Norfolk State over Morgan State, Delaware State over UMES

Finals: Delaware State over Norfolk State

Thoughts: Let’s go Hornets!!!!!!!

Atlantic 10

1st Round: Duquesne over St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island over St. Joe’s, Charlotte over UMass, Dayton over GW

2nd Round: Temple over Duquesne, Saint Louis over Rhode Island, Charlotte over Richmond, Xavier over Dayton

Semifinals: Saint Louis over Temple, Xavier over Charlotte

Finals: Xavier over Saint Louis

Thoughts: I predict the Billikens will be very inspired after a pregame pep talk involving Rick Majerus pooping in front of them.

Big East

1st Round: South Florida over Depaul, St. John’s over UConn, Seton Hall over Providence, Rutgers over Cincy

2nd Round: South Florida over Georgetown, Marquette over St. John’s, Notre Dame over Seton Hall, Louisville over Rutgers

3rd Round: Syracuse over South Florida, Marquette over Villanova, Pitt over Notre Dame, Louisville over WVU

Semifinals: Syracuse over Marquette, Pitt over Louisville

Finals: Syracuse over Pitt

Thoughts: Lots of overrated teams in the conference, but Syracuse is certainly legit, so they’re the pick.

Scoreboard Update

Bo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:53:42 +0000

Well this has definitely been a less enthusiastic edition of the UCTPE but that’s alright because we renewed the domain name yesterday so all is well at The Basement. Before I get to the standings update, I just wanted to point out that as much as Pat pretends to hate picking against Troy, there’s this too.

Onto the results so far.

Patriot League: Bo – 2 points ; Pat – 4 points … We both have Lehigh in the championship game so no more separation here.
Atlantic Sun: Bo – 2 points ; Pat – 6 points … Pat’s rewarded for sticking with Tim Smith and correctly picking an ETSU championship.
Big South: Bo – 2 points ; Pat – 1 point … Not including missed points for not picking the first round games.
NEC: Bo – 5 points ; Pat – 4 points … Big championship game with me having Quinnipiac and Pat having Robert Morris.
Missouri Valley: Bo – 30 points ; Pat – 15 points … pretty much just beasted this one.
Southern: Bo – 18 points ; Pat – 12 points … Correctly picked Wofford
CAA: Bo – 12 points ; Pat – 12 points … Pat missed a chance for 6 points when William & Mary lost last night.
OVC: Bo – 10 points ; Pat – 4 points … Murray State bonus for me.
WCC: Bo – 18 points ; Pat – 10 points … I had a perfect WCC bracket, and that is definitely resume material.
Horizon: Bo – 8 points ; Pat – 2 points … We both still have a possible Butler bonus if they win the champ. game.
MAAC – Bo – 18 points ; Pat – 18 points … Both picked Siena
America East - Bo – 5 points ; Pat – 4 points … I correctly tabbed Vermont.
Summit: Bo – 6 points ; Pat – 5 points … 3 point swing tonight in the Champ. game as I have IUPUI and pat has Oakland.
Sun Belt: Bo – 6 points ; Pat – 8 points … Pat’s got a 3-point bonus coming to him if Troy wins.
Big Sky: Bo – 4 points ; Pat – 2 points … Still ongoing although we missed the knowledge that this is a re-seeder.
MAC: Bo – 8 points ; Pat – 6 points … Only in the quarters.

Current Tally:

Bo – 154 points (6 champs so far)

Pat – 113 points (2 champs so far)

Bo’s 3/9 Picks

Bo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:30:58 +0000

The next round of tourneys start today, including the Big East, and with the slew of 3-point conferences opening up soon, the picks get more important. A standings update will follow this post, but I’ve got a sizable lead over Pat that is by no means insurmountable with the vast majority of points still up for grabs.

MEAC (1-point)

1st round: #9 North Carolina A&T over #8 Howard, #11 Coppin St. over #6 Maryland Eastern Shore, #7 Bethune Cookman over #10 Florida A&M

Quarters: #1 Morgan St. over NC A&T, #5 Hampton over #4 Norfolk St., #3 South Carolina St. over Coppin St., #2 Delaware St. over Bethune Cookman

Semis: Morgan St. over Hampton, Del St. over SCST

Champion: Morgan St.

Tourney’s taking place at the Joel again, what’s the over/under on Wake students that attend? 9.5?

Atlantic 10 (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 St. Bonaventure over #9 Duquesne, #5 Rhode Island over #12 St. Joe’s, #6 Charlotte over #11 UMASS, #7 Dayton over #10 George Washington

Quarters: #1 Temple over St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island over #4 Saint Louis, #3 Richmond over Charlotte, Dayton over #2 Xavier

Semis: Rhode Island over Temple, Richmond over Dayton

Champion: Richmond

Taking a risk here that neither of the two favorite wins the tournament. A-10 is a pretty packed conference and I just get the feeling that the teams with something to play for (Rhode Island, Dayton) will pull a couple upsets.

Big East (3-pointer)

1st round: #9 South Florida over #16 DePaul, #12 UConn over #13 St. John’s, #10 Seton Hall over #15 Providence, #11 Cincinnati over #14 Rutgers

2nd round: #8 Georgetown over South Florida, UConn over #5 Marquette, Seton Hall over #7 Notre Dame, #6 Louisville over Cincinnati

Quarters: #1 Syracuse over Georgetown, #4 Villanova over UConn, #2 Pittsburgh over Seton Hall, #3 West Virginia over Louisville

Semis: Syracuse over Villanova, West Virginia over Pittsburgh

Champion: West Virginia

Wide open tourney of course, and even though I really don’t like Jim Calhoun I think he’ll get his two wins.

Pat’s Weekend Picks

Pat — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:47:59 +0000

I fucked up. I didn’t get a chance to get my picks up yesterday. The only way to rectify this without either throwing out the four tournaments that started Saturday or giving Bo an insurmountable advantage was for me to blindly pick all of the favorites in those conferences. This, of course, is all the way through, and not just yesterday’s games, because it would’ve been a major advantage for me going forward to know the 1st Round results. I am embarrassed, but let’s be honest, I would’ve just been making random guesses based on nothing anyway. For record keeping purposes, here are what my picks look like.

America East

1st Round: Stony Brook over Albany, BU over Hartford, Maine over UNH, Vermont over UMBC

Semifinals: Stony Brook over BU, Vermont over Maine

Finals: Stony Brook over Vermont

Thoughts: I actually would’ve picked Stony Brook in this conference. Like Bo, I used to like that Coppenrath/Sorrentine team, but then the idiot coach started working for ESPN and made me hate him, so fuck Vermont.

Summit

1st Round: Oakland over UMKC, SDSU over IPFW, Oral Roberts over NDSU, IUPUI over Western Illinois

Semifinals: Oakland over SDSU, IUPUI over Oral Roberts

Finals: Oakland over IUPUI

Thoughts: Let’s do this for Rawle Marshall.

Sun Belt

1st Round: FAU over South Alabama, WKU over New Orleans, Arkansas State over Arkansas- LR, Denver over FIU, La.-Lafayette over La.-Monroe

2nd Round: Troy over FAU, WKU over Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee over Denver, North Texas over Lafayette

Semifinals: Troy over WKU, North Texas over Middle Tennessee

Finals: Troy over North Texas

Thoughts: I must admit I would never have picked Troy for 5 reasons: 1) I hate Troy Aikman, 2) I hate Osi Umenyiora, 3) Troy was a shitty movie, 4) I hate Demarcus Ware, 5) Troy Bell sucks

Big Sky

1st Round: Montana State over Portland State, Montana over Northern Arizona

Semifinals: Northern Colorado over Montana State, Weber State over Montana

Finals: Weber State over Northern Colorado

Thoughts: I was looking at Bo’s Picks and wondering why the fuck Middle Tennessee State would be in this conference. Well, turns out they’re not. It’s Montana State. Stupid Bo.

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, I can actually pick some games.

MAC

1st Round: WMU over BGSU, EMU over NIU, Ball State over Ohio, Buffalo over Toledo

2nd Round: CMU over WMU, Akron over EMU, Kent State over Ball State, Buffalo over Miami (Ohio)

Semifinals: Akron over CMU, Buffalo over Kent State

Finals: Akron over Buffalo

Thoughts: I think Akron pays their players, so I’m going with the pros.

Bo’s MAC Picks

Bo — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:15:52 +0000

MAC (1-pointer)

1st Round: #7 Western Michigan over #10 Bowling Green, #6 Eastern Michigan over #11 Northern Illinois, #9 Ohio over #8 Ball St., #5 Buffalo over #12 Toledo

Quarters: Western Michigan over #2 Central Michigan, #3 Akron over E. Michigan, #1 Kent St. over Ohio, #4 Miami (OH) over Buffalo

Semis: Akron over Western Michigan, Kent St. over Miami (OH)

Champion: Kent State