Items Tagged: NCAA Tournament

Sorted by date

1. Good Times Never Seemed So Good by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 30, 2008 Thank you, Davidson players, coaches, staff, students and fans. It was a ride that was both sweet and elite. We'll close Season 4 with an epilogue on Tuesday. ...... [more]

2. There's a Basketball Game Today at 5 PM ET by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 30, 2008 We received a lot of messages in response to the query as to whether or not I should wear the "Just Balls" tie to the game today. With a 2-to-1 split in favor of donning autographed neckgear, the votes against stuck out and haunted my sleep. Several people brought up the possibility of a double-reve...... [more]

3. Detroit Shock by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 29, 2008 DETROIT -- The alarm clock went off this morning, like it normally does... but we're still trying to figure out when, exactly, we fell asleep. Around 6 p.m. yesterday? That timeframe makes more sense than what we were hallucinating about. Davidson? A No. 10 seed? Slaughtering the Big Ten champs in B...... [more]

4. Elite Cats! by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 28, 2008 ...... [more]

5. Bally's Massive Midwest Regional All-Accesstravaganza! by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 27, 2008 One of the great things about the day before an NCAA subregional, regional or Final Four is that the public can come and watch the teams practice for free! This is enormous Ford Field in Detroit, which is normally used for American-style football. The stadium will have 72,000 available seats for t...... [more]

6. NCAA Money Matters: The Sweet 16 by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 27, 2008 There are 16 teams left to fight over the National Championship, each with just four more wins to go to achieve the ultimate prize. Strangely enough, they spent widely disparate amounts of money to get here. As my new friend TuckyBill likes to say, "mid-major" is just another name for "more bang fo...... [more]

7. Hilltopper Fever by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 26, 2008 Bowling Green has been painted Big Red ever since the home team clinched its first Sweet 16 berth in 15 years last weekend. After the jump, more pictures of the scene in B.G. as Western Kentucky University prepares for Thursday's No. 12 vs. No. 1 matchup against UCLA. In front of the arena that be...... [more]

8. The Travelogue, Chapter 18 by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 26, 2008 Bowling Green At 2:45 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, the message came in, with a time stamp that indicated it had been left an hour earlier. "The plane leaves around 3 p.m.," the sports information director said. "We'll see you down there at the airport." I'd have received the call on time if I...... [more]

9. Two Through by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 23, 2008 Two brave, fighting groups of men... two long dormant small-college basketball legacies reborn... two tourney champions turned Sweet survivors. The Sun Belt and the SoCon, two leagues the general public can't tell apart from each other, are sending representatives to the NCAA Regionals. Hoo-zah! ...... [more]

10. NCAA Money Matters: Second Round by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 22, 2008 Back by popular demand, it's another chart of who's got money and who doesn't. Basing your prognostications on athletic budgets isn't a perfect method -- you would have gone 24-8 in the first round, which seems about average for all those suffering from Tampa Madness (you would have had WKU over Dra...... [more]

11. St. Awesome by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 22, 2008 O Saints, you screaming yellow zonkers of a team. We've had our rough spots, y'all and I -- there's ancient history and we did have to report what we saw last month. But we've never hesitated to say nice things about you, we've ranked you, and then we stormed your court. And now we celebrate your fi...... [more]

12. Dave and Busters by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 21, 2008 O Wildcats, dispatchers of Zags, plain-sight stealers of ACC-level recruits! You play a fair game, you play a square game, and you win in everything! Davidson's red and black machine won its 23rd game in a row, but its first at the NCAA tournament since 1969, when ol' Lefty Driesell paced the Wildca...... [more]

13. Twelve, Thirteen by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 21, 2008 ...... [more]

14. Sh*tballed and Shortchanged by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 21, 2008 BIRMINGHAM -- On mornings like this, after days like that, I'm envious of people who can simply move on with their brackets and think about the next round's matchups. For those of us who cover the mid-major schools, we'll be reliving this day over and over again for the next year. The true underdo...... [more]

15. Bally's Exclusive Backstage All-Access NCAA Pass! by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 20, 2008 Well, here we are in Birmingham. I'm watching practices, asking dumb questions in press conferences, eating all the Cheetos at the media buffet spread, and waiting for the upsets to start happening on TV. While I'm doing Real Serious Work, Bally is living it up VIP style at the Big Dance. Follow a...... [more]

16. NCAA Money Matters: First Round by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 19, 2008 We had quite a few mail inquiries and chat questions yesterday about the chat that was published in my weekly blog for the Worldwide Leader. For those of you who are ESPN OutSiders, I listed the top five largest financial disparities in both overall athletic expenses and men's basketball budgets. Pe...... [more]

17. Why You Shouldn't Enter Your Office Pool by Kyle Whelliston
S4 March 18, 2008 I remember my first March Madness office pool. The year was 1992, I was about to leave my teenage years behind. I had just nabbed my first real actual journalism job, working for out-of-state tuition as a junior copy editor at a farming magazine in Oregon. I recall that the whole bracket thing was a...... [more]

18. Sweet 16 Cheatsheets by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 21, 2007 Thursday South: (2) Memphis vs. (3) Texas A&M South: (1) Ohio State vs. (5) Tennessee West: (1) Kansas vs. (4) Southern Illinois West: (2) UCLA vs. (3) Pittsburgh Friday East: (2) Georgetown vs. (6) Vanderbilt East: (1) North Carolina vs. (5) Southern California Midwest: (1) Florida vs. ...... [more]

19. How Far Did They Go? by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 19, 2007 In light of this great WaPo article about relative quality of hotels in the NCAA tournament's first weekend, might as well bring out the dist-o-meter again. How far from home did the committee send teams? (Distances are from campus to city center) (East 11) George Washington -- 2372 mi. to Sacramen...... [more]

20. NCAA Second Round Cheatsheets by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 17, 2007 As a public service, here are the second-round cheatsheet previews for all games, even the non-mid-major ones. Enjoy! Saturday 12:00 -- Bradley vs. Mississippi State 1:10 -- Xavier vs. Ohio State 3:20 -- Butler vs. Maryland 3:40 -- Louisville vs. Texas A&M 5:40 -- Vanderbilt vs. Washington...... [more]

21. NCAA First Round 2007 by the Number$ by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 14, 2007 So what are the real upsets? When it comes to college sports, it's all about the Benjamins. Here, then, are the first round matchups with the participating schools' 2005-06 athletic budgets. "Differences" are based on the high seed's budget. As always, expense data from the Office of Postsecondary E...... [more]

22. Tourney Central 3/12/07 by Kyle Whelliston
S3 March 12, 2007 Bullet Points http://schools.basketballstate.com/TAMCC class=optn>Texas A&M-Corpus Christi won the Southland final, and Championship Fortnight has come to a close. It's Tournament Time! The Last Bracket All brackets on the Bracket City page have been replaced with the completed versions. ...... [more]

23. Here's Where The Story Ends by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 21, 2005 Game 100: (5) Michigan State 72, (13) Vermont 61 NCAA Tournament, Second Round (Austin Bracket) Sunday, March 20, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA Fitting then, that this is the final chapter: the Vermont Catamounts, the feel-good story of the year, fell to the Michigan State Spartans. It's a happy ...... [more]

24. Julius, I'm Sorry by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 21, 2005 Game 099: (10) North Carolina State 65, (2) Connecticut 62 NCAA Tournament, Second Round (Syracuse Bracket) Sunday, March 20, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA Game 23: N.C. State/St. John's| ...... [more]

25. Out-Of-Town Scoreboard by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 098: (5) Michigan State 89, (12) Old Dominion 81 NCAA Tournament, First Round (Austin Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA Worcester, Oklahoma City, Nashville and Charlotte are locations that have absolutely nothing to do with one another. For a single weekend, though, th...... [more]

26. The Crown Prince Of Burlington by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 097: (13) Vermont 60, (4) Syracuse 57 (OT) NCAA Tournament, First Round (Austin Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA A crucial element of the tale is the heroine's anonymity - nobody knows who this girl is. She shows up at the ball in a nice chariot, rushes off in the ele...... [more]

27. Cool Like Coach by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 096: (2) Connecticut 77, (15) Central Florida 71 NCAA Tournament, First Round (Syracuse Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA One popular view of college basketball holds that the players are just a rotating set of chess pieces, created and molded and positioned by masterm...... [more]

28. Behind The Madness by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 19, 2005 Game 095: (10) North Carolina State 75, (7) Charlotte 63 NCAA Tournament, First Round (Syracuse Bracket) Friday, March 18, 2005 DCU Center - Worcester, MA On television, all NCAA Tournament sites look like the happiest places on earth. The court is shiny, the paint-faced fans scream proudly, the ba...... [more]

29. The Syracuse Bracket by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Oakland Seed: 16 1st Round Opponent: North Carolina Record: 13-18 (9-9 Mid-Continent) Big Nonconference Wins: December 30 vs. Bowling Green (77-53); it was their only non-league win over a D1 opponent. Key Players: Pierre Dukes (see below) is the folk hero, but senior forwards Rawle Marshall and Co...... [more]

30. The Austin Bracket by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Delaware State Seed: 16 1st Round Opponent: Duke Record: 19-13 (17-4 Mid-Eastern) Big Nonconference Wins: A 71-56 win in November versus Jackson State (14-17, 10-9 SWAC) in Las Vegas will have to do. 100 Games Project Appearances: #29, #52 Key Players: You won't find a more unselfish crew in the ...... [more]

31. The Albuquerque Bracket by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Why trust those Johnny-come-latelies? We've been covering these guys all season. Here, then, is the first of four capsule sets of the mid-major teams who will appear on your television screens starting on Thursday, along with a few clips of their TMM appearances. Montana Seed: 16 1st Round Opponen...... [more]

32. The Chicago Bracket by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 16, 2005 Fairleigh Dickinson Seed: 16 1st Round Opponent: Illinois Record: 20-12 (16-5 Northeast Conference) Big Nonconference Wins: December 9 at eventual MAAC two-seed Rider (76-74) 100 Games Project Appearances: #65 Key Players: Big Gordon Klaiber and little Tamien Trent are the inside-outside mechanism ...... [more]

33. Bracket City USA by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 14, 2005 MAC, Knifed: A lot of watercooler talk this morning is and will be centered around the Mid-American Conference, more specifically the lack of at-large teams from such. Even Dickie V, who was born on Exit 16W but made his coaching hay in the MAC's geographical sphere of influence, was all over the c...... [more]

34. Nostradumbass by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 14, 2005 In the heat of the postseason, it's easy for people to quickly sweep their preseason conference picks under the rug. What? Huh? I picked Princeton? Look over there, a birdie! But not this one; I face my failures head-on. For your amusement, here are my picks from late December. Note that I had an e...... [more]

35. The Fantastic Five by Kyle Whelliston
S1 March 13, 2005 T1. Southern Illinois, Missouri Valley (23-10, 13-7 MWC, 18 RPI) Chicago 7 T1. Nevada, Western Athletic (24-6, 16-3 WAC, 33) Chicago 9 3. Pacific, Big West (26-3, 19-1 BWC, 22) Albuquerque 8 4. Miami (Oh.), Mid-American (19-10, 13-7 MAC, 43) 5. St. Mary's, Western Athletic (25-8, 12-4 WCC, 30) Chica...... [more]