Fun Friday: March Madness

I know we are already a day in and if you had Montana, Belmont, or UNLV in your brackets (like my son Josh did), then you are already behind the eight ball. But March Madness is so much fun that we are going to make it fun friday anyway.

My sentimental pick to go all the way is the Georgetown Hoyas. With Otto Porter Jr leading the charge and a stifling defense that has brought the likes of Louisville and Syracuse (twice) to their knees, I like Georgetown's chances this year.

Speaking of Syracuse, they looked dominant last night. And so did Louisville. In memory of the Big East, my basketball conference (may it rest in peace), I am calling a Big East NCAA championship this year.

What is your March Madness pick this year? Let's go at it in the comments.

And given the topic, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the work of my friend Pravin, who was the inspiration for MBA Mondays. Pravin also taught Josh a bit of progamming when Josh was in middle school. Too bad he did not teach him to leave the likes of Belmont and Montana out of his March Madness picks! But I digress.

Pravin works for Google and along with Dan Vanderkam built the awesome March Madness card for Google search. When you are on your phone (or desktop/laptop), just search for march madness. You will get the entire bracket with game times and up to date scores. I told Josh and his friend Max about it the other day and Josh said "I use the ESPN app for that". A few minutes later Josh said "Pravin's thing is better". We've been using Google search to keep up to date with the tournament since. Folder that under "HTLM5 vs native apps".

#Sports

Comments (Archived):

  1. William Mougayar

    Data + search at work.Bing has had that for a while. For Google, this is new and a result of their partnership with ESPN. http://gizmodo.com/5833346/…JLM has a funny post on March Madness http://themusingsofthebigre…I’m rooting for Syracuse 🙂

    1. fredwilson

      i just headed over to the big red car. had to read that! thanks for the tip. syracuse looked good last night.

    2. pointsnfigures

      I am surprised a Texan knows what a round ball looks like. Thought they only played with pigskin down there.

      1. JLM

        .Hey, we got Bobby Knight to come as far South as Texas Tech, didn’t we? He used to know a bit about basketball.And we stole Rick Barnes from the ACC.We are still just learning the rules down here.JLM.

        1. pointsnfigures

          Knight went because the quail hunting is better and you don’t go to court when you inadvertently put some bb’s in your hunting partner

          1. JLM

            .In Texas if you are the Vice President you are allowed to shoot one hunting partner per trip — poor Harry Whittington.Quail is OK, but pheasants, now that is hunting. With great dogs.JLM.

          2. pointsnfigures

            I hunt pheasants in western IL. Friend has 300 acres. Used to have Brit’s but they have passed away. Best noses, worked hard and used to wait for me all day in the drive when I was at work.

  2. Dan Epstein

    I’ve never seen the encrypted.google.com before (as opposed to http://google.com). What’s the difference?

    1. fredwilson

      no idea. it’s just what i got when i went there from duck duck go.

      1. Dan Epstein

        Checked on google (getting meta).http://support.google.com/w…What can I expect from search over SSL?Here’s how searching over SSL is different from regular Google search:SSL encrypts the communication channel between Google and a searcher’s computer.Under most circumstances, when you use https://www.google.com your search terms are encrypted and are excluded from the referrer headers that are part of the request sent to the result site you visit. The landing site will still receive information that you are coming from Google, but not the query that was issued — namely, the host is still part of the referrer being passed. There are a few exceptions to this:If your network administrator has redirected you to a NoSSLSearch configuration that we have for schools (see below), your query may not be encrypted, because you have been redirected to a non-encrypted http session.If you have configured your browser’s search box to send search queries to http://www.google.com, you’ll be redirected to https to get your encrypted results, but your query will be initially sent unencryptedIf you click on an ad on the results page, your browser will send an unencrypted referrer that includes your query to the advertiser’s site. This provides a mechanism to the advertiser so that the advertiser can improve the relevancy of the ads that are presented to you. If you are concerned about referrer information being sent without encryption to the website you clicked on, we recommend using our existing encrypted search service at https://encrypted.google.com.

  3. Tom Labus

    as a big east guy (villanova) I have to go with the cats tonight, But after that it’s Louisville’s dance.

  4. Elia Freedman

    When I was younger I watched a lot of NCAA basketball and knew everything going on, names of players, etc. same was true for NCAA football, pro football and baseball, and at times pro basketball, too. I’m not just talking my teams, though. (Cleveland and Ohio State, for my tortured soul.) I mean every team.As I’ve gotten older, started a company, had kids, I find I don’t pay attention like I once did. I still know my teams, especially what’s happening with the Indians, Browns and Cavs, but I don’t have the attention for sports like I used to. I have a few theories:1. I cancelled cable a few years ago which means I never see sports center anymore.2. The company takes so much time that hobbies have been restricted. The gym/ride my bike, and read is about all I have time for.3. Any extra time, even time that isn’t extra, I’ve wanted to spend with my daughters.4. My favorite teams have been so bad to mediocre for so long I’m tired of the heartbreak. (If my dad would have only raised me to be a Yankee and Steeler fan.) it’s hard to be that disappointed year after year after year.5. I don’t play sports anymore. I was much more into the sports I played, although I never played football. I did play softball and baseball until into my thirties but quit when I had kids.6. I consciously decided, since obsession with sports had been past down from generation to generation, that I would do my best to break the curse.So with that… Go Buckeyes. Not that I really care all that much in the end.

    1. JamesHRH

      ESPN.com my friend. i admit that I had a reason to be up later than normal last night, so I rolled through a few games (caught the Crimson win and watch about 2 mins of Montana getting rolled up – always tough when its that uneven).

      1. Elia Freedman

        I did that for a while but got sick of paying ESPN to read articles just so they could annoy me with intermittent ads. I’m willing to pay for services and I’m willing to accept ads. But it is rare that I am going to put up with both, at least if the ads are done in the annoying ways ESPN used to. Besides, I’m tired of the All-Yankee-Network even before I quit cable.

    2. LE

      “2. The company takes so much time that hobbies have been restricted. The gym/ride my bike, and read is about all I have time for.”I went out to dinner last week with a guy and his wife. The guy is working for his father in law and is a real go getter and aggressive and I had been privately telling his wife that he should consider going out on his own and leave his father in law’s company. He is in his early 40’s and I said “if he doesn’t do it now he will never do it”. She agreed. I was asking her because I didn’t want to egg him on to something she was against and cause a marital problem (and it was her father’s company he worked for).At the dinner the conversation started off where he told me he had taken up flying and had accumulated 200 hours of flight time and had bought a plane and had it hangered already. I quickly realized that with all he had going on with the hobby (and 3 children) and the distraction of that (and excitement) that he probably wasn’t going to be able to carve out the time needed to begin to even think about starting a company.My personal feeling is that he took to the hobby because he wasn’t fulfilled at his job and needed a hobby. Now that he has this hobby and the excitement of it still fresh (something I always wanted to do but didn’t) I don’t feel he’s in the best position to start a company so I didn’t bring up the issue at all. (Talk of the airplane took literally 3/4 of the dinner so the clock literally ran out.)

      1. Elia Freedman

        It’s funny that you say that. I used to be a very avid photographer. Even that doesn’t hold my attention anymore. For a while I lamented the loss of my hobbies but I eventually came to realize that I didn’t need them. And, once they weren’t apart of my routine anymore, I didn’t really miss them either.

        1. LE

          I have always done photography and have mentioned that in the past I had a darkroom as well.I still take pictures now digitally of anything and everything. I just got a coffee and took a picture of the dunkin donuts sign for no particular reason. I have an entire series of pictures of my feet (we’re all on the aspergers spectrum you see it’s just a matter of how much)That said here is what I think is going on with that (because I definitely wouldn’t take as many pictures if it wasn’t frictionless or if I didn’t make money doing so as I have.).In order for something to have long term potential it has to be either necessary, addictive, a challenge or all three. (sure other stuff this comes to mind).Take eating. You never get tired of eating good food or the pleasure that comes from that. Necessary and addictive. Same with sex.Now take boating. It’s not necessary and it’s not particularly addictive and at a certain point it’s not even a challenge anymore. (One thing I noticed was that sailing was definitely more challenging and addictive than motor boating but then again it’s not like you do that every day and if you did you’d get bored).Computers on the other hand, necessary, addictive, challenging. I do that every day and have since the beginning of time. I’ve never had a single day when I’ve said “nah I don’t feel like doing computers today”. When I am on the beach I run out to Starbucks and pull out the laptop. Not only is it fun but you can make money with it as well. When I did photography and made money that was great and that alone provided the impetus to continue doing it.The other thing that is necessary sometimes is positive reinforcement from others of your hobby. With photos this is really limited. If you take pictures most people don’t care really about the pictures. And guess what? If they are in the pictures ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS HOW THEY LOOK. If they don’t look good, then the picture isn’t good. Meanwhile as the photographer you have other criteria. So it becomes almost negative reinforcement.The other thing about hobbies is that they are also no fun if not juxtaposed against pain, work and suffering. Take Fred and skiing. If he retired (and I mean didn’t work with entrepreneurs really retired or stopped doing business to travel the world) he would quickly find most likely that the skiing isn’t as much fun.

          1. Louie Steiner

            All good points,, well done

    3. LE

      “I have a few theories:”By the way I think this is great. You’d be surprised how many people don’t have the ability to reverse engineer or even hypothesize why things happen like you just did on the fly. I do that as well and find it helpful especially when applying the same principle to the actions of others as well.

      1. Elia Freedman

        One of the things I always loved about being a Jew is that we are literally taught to question authority. (Or at least this is how I always interpreted the four questions during Passover seder.) I think about almost everything this way! Thanks for the complement.

        1. LE

          I was just discussing this with my wife this morning actually.Her ex husband would normally pick up the kids after school. She told me that he wasn’t going to do that today because he had a “product rollout” and instead would pick them up Sat morning. My immediate reaction was to start to question the validity of the “product rollout” reason that he gave. Wasn’t even that I thought or it mattered if he was lying. I just found it interesting. And it popped into my head just like that. I didn’t even think – it was automatic.I said (knowing a bit about what he does) “what company like that rolls out a product on Friday night?” I then started down an entire line of questioning which totally baffled her. She had just accepted it (and she isn’t a particularly gullible person) she just had no interest or curiosity.The way I was raised I was questioned and had to justify everything. If my dad knew I read AVC (he doesn’t) and I told him about a post on Friday he would say “but I thought you told me 6 mos. ago that Friday was “Fun Friday” so are you sure you read that post today and not on another day?”So with my parents it was literally impossible to lie. You had to be truthful because my dad at least would always get to the bottom of any story. He still does this to this day. It’s almost like a sport to him to find and exploit a story weakness.

          1. Louie Steiner

            My Hello to your dad, but seriously 🙂

        2. Martina Reed

          Who else is Jew in this community ? Just questioning like one..

          1. JamesHRH

            The Gotham Gal & the Bartender is a convert, I believe.

          2. ShanaC

            not that is my business, the Bartender as far as I know, did not convert. He was a radical back in the day 🙂

        3. ShanaC

          happy pesach. Meh to the questioning authority…used to be more true

    4. Louie Steiner

      “As I’ve gotten older, started a company, had kids, I find I don’t pay attention like I once did”Did you also grow fat ?? Just kidding on a Fun Friday 🙂

  5. Joe Yevoli

    I’m going NC State! They made it pretty far last year, and they have their entire team back this year. The playing field is so even this year! I hate rooting against my favorite school, UNC, or my alma mater Syracuse. But, I really think it’s NC States year!

  6. Bo Sartain

    For some reason I had a devil (go Duke!) of a time finding a bracket online I could fill out and print, just for me, without having to enter into some contest. I finally found a good one here: http://www.printyourbracket

    1. pointsnfigures

      Only Duke grads like Duke. They are getting as insufferable as Michigan and Notre Dame people. However, got to respect their coach.

      1. kidmercury

        there was a TV network, i think it was ESPN, that ran a mock bracket of most hated college basketball athletes of all time. one division was athletes from the 00s, one was athletes from the 90s, another was athletes from the 80s. then there was the duke bracket of nothing but duke players.

        1. Ed Freyfogle

          I’m sure Laettner once again wins, just as he did on court.Duke School of Engineering, class of 97

          1. pointsnfigures

            Should have majored in Finance and stats-owes investors 30M. (Laettner)

      2. JLM

        .Duke has the most lovers and the most haters.Screw Duke unless the Tarheels lose, then it is Go Duke!JLM.

        1. Bo Sartain

          LOL. My older sister went to UNC so I’m the one Dookie that’s also a Tar Heel fan, as long as they’re not playing.I’m picking Miami to do some real damage in the tournament. Miami should have been a #1 having won the ACC regular season and tournament.

          1. JLM

            .Miami looks pretty damn good to me.JLM.

      3. Bo Sartain

        Add Ohio State to that list (more for football)

  7. Charlie Crystle

    Well, Ohio State of course. I was born in the university hospital, delivered by Woody Hayes and have lived in pain ever since (booyah, Wolverines).Buckeyes…yet with 3 seconds to go they’ll leave us in second place. So I’ll take Pacific for the long shot.(I’m with Frank Deford on the NCAA though… http://www.npr.org/2013/02/

  8. andyswan

    Louisville wins it all, city parties like no other all the way through a mass post-Derby hangover. Regrets nothing.

  9. Jeff O'Hara

    Go Butler!

    1. Max Yoder

      Were you a Bulldog?

  10. Max Yoder

    Indiana University. I know nothing about sports, but I went to IU (and found Tom Crean to be a well-intentioned guy), so this one’s a no-brainer.Also, it’s fun to see the conservatives of this state finally agree with President Obama on something.

  11. JamesHRH

    I took Louisville over Miami in the final. I went chalk. Part of me wishes I had taken VCU over ‘Cuse though.There are so many ‘styles make fights’ match ups that are awesome.There are just sooooooo many good teams now. And the quality of coaching is so much higher. Its not like the tourney was when Barry ‘Go-Go’ Goheen was making 3s from all over to pull out games for Vanderbilt (go get your google on). The Harvard win was not at all like Goheen pulling games out for Vandy – they play great as a team, have quality at every spot on the floor (30 years ago, lower seeds had lots of 1 dimensional players).Any team seeded between 3&14 can win. 25-30 years ago the upsets were usually the result of a single, unknown player going off. We used to just order pizza and not leave the house for 4 days, when I was an undergrad.I am a Syracuse grad, but I think Coach Boehiem is really poor ‘in game coach’. His only title was won when his end of game strategy was ‘give it to Melo.’ He recruits ridiculously and the 2-3 zone (with all that length) is tough. I have Indiana taking them out.March Madness claim to fame: we used to have dark horse picks. $5 in a pool, pick 2 teams seeded lower than 4. Last team left earned all the dough. In 1983, I picked NC State and as I handed over my money, said “these guys can win it all”.

    1. William Mougayar

      You’re really into it… Lots of snow still in Sarnia :)?

      1. JamesHRH

        Lots of snowing, but lots of melting as well.

  12. Clay Hebert

    When I went through Seth Godin’s MBA program in 2009, I wanted to run a March Madness bracket for the group but nobody else was much of a hoops fan, so I invented a different way – called “The Skill Swap” office pool.tl;drInstead of throwing in $10, everyone donates a skill. It could be setting up a WordPress blog or canoeing lessons (Seth’s contribution). Skills are posted publicly so you get to learn more about your colleagues during the tournament.Whoever takes 1st place in the tournament chooses first from all the donated skills. 2nd place chooses second, and so on. Everyone teaches something. Everyone learns something. Everyone wins.We had a lot of fun and we all got to know each other better. I think this is how every startup, VC firm and small team should run their office pools.If you want to run your own Skill Swap, I wrote all the details and made from free downloadable templates on my blog here. http://spnd.ws/skillswapncaaBusiness Insider and WaPo also picked up the idea this week:http://spnd.ws/skillswapBI and http://spnd.ws/skillswapwapo

    1. fredwilson

      that is awesome

    2. ShanaC

      i need to find a situation to do this with. This is a good idea

    3. Matt A. Myers

      This is such a great idea.

      1. Clay Hebert

        Let’s make it a movement.

        1. JamesHRH

          Awwwww, can’t we just talk hoops & not make the world a better place today?I kid – neat idea for the non- sports-junkie.

    4. takingpitches

      Pretty f-in brilliant

    5. JLM

      .Well played. Nice creativity.JLM.

    6. Kirsten Lambertsen

      This is a keeper!

  13. takingpitches

    The Harvard Crimson ftw!

  14. JamesHRH

    Oh, and tell Josh that my upset specials were Butler & Saint Louis losing in Round 1.Nice.

    1. fredwilson

      i don’t think that will make him feel much better 🙂

      1. JamesHRH

        My only defence is that I don’t follow sports at all any more.

  15. jason wright

    i need a translation

  16. Matthew Ranauro

    I’ve got Louisville over Florida in the final.I’d be curious to know if anyone uses a model of their own for the selection process. Would be fun to swap notes on that front. =)

  17. JimHirshfield

    I’m not much of a basketball fan, but have had a fun giphy addiction over the last few days. So here ya go…http://gph.is/VwztsU

    1. Louie Steiner

      execellento awesomeo

  18. pointsnfigures

    Sorry about the Big East, but the Big Ten was far and away the toughest conference this year. A lot of Big Ten teams will do some damage in the tourney, but the NCAA is dominated by great guard play. Louisville has to get through Ohio St. Georgetown has to go through Indiana. Gonna be an all Big 10 final.

  19. Brandon Marker

    Miami over Duke, 76-72

  20. tgodin

    well, as a Duke graduate, I have to pull for my team.but as a 46 year old who grew up in upstate NY watching the Big East in the early ’80s, it would be a nice tribute to the history of that conference if Georgetown or Syracuse were to win.

  21. Kirsten Lambertsen

    Sometimes I wish I was a basketball fan. You people seem to have a lot of fun and get treated to so many games! But, it would interfere with my hockey schedule ;)Score one for html5 – that’s the team I’m pulling for.

    1. Steve Palmer

      I am with you on hockey and html5! Watching Winnipeg (ugh) and Washington (ugh) Flyers for me but any hockey game is better than basketball 🙂

  22. John Revay

    I saw some clips this AM on SportsCenter from EnergySolutions ArenaI thought your clan may have been in the stands.

    1. fredwilson

      we only realized last night that we could have gone to those games.but we skied trees in 6″ of powder all day long and i don’t know if we could have gotten up the energy to do anything other than sit on the couch and watch the games

      1. matthughes

        I’m jealous about that tree skiing.

        1. fredwilson

          it was epic. i showed my 17 year old son and his friend places on the mountain (in bounds) that only the locals know. it was a blast.

          1. JamesHRH

            That is such a Bartender thing to do – secret spots of awesome.

  23. matthughes

    Indiana’s best is better than anyone else’s best so I’m going with the Hoosiers.Granted, the field is more wide open than any in recent memory.As a PAC-12 guy, I was happy to see the conference do so well on day one: 3 – 0.

    1. fredwilson

      that’s what the President said the other day. he’s got Indiana to win too.

    2. JamesHRH

      yesssssss, Mtn West getting shamed by their West Coast Big Bro.

  24. Richard

    The bracket works because it takes a daunting task (pick the winner) and breaks it into manageable pieces? Where else can we apply the simplicity of the bracket ?

  25. kidmercury

    native apps trump HTML 5 for frequent usage. checking brackets once in a while? sure, html5. having a full blown social network involving gambling, trash talking with friends, and watching and commenting on games? please. no contest. native.i don’t know much about college sports. they fall so far below the pros i simply cannot tolerate it. the one thing i do like about college is the one and one rule on free throws when you’re in the penalty. that adds a new dimension to the game i really like. but other than that, pros are just so much better……pros are a a custom made meal by a top chef using organic ingredients from quality farmers’ markets…….college is fast food. kinda convenient when nothing else is on, but ultimately low quality and bad for your sports watching health.

  26. Dave W Baldwin

    You know I say go Otto! Georgetown should do well.

  27. Dasher

    Best tweet in a while from last night: from @levie: Somewhere, a Winklevoss is taking credit for tonight’s win.

  28. Adam Besvinick

    Duke all the way.I also think ESPN’s BracketBound app trumps the Google feature.

  29. martinowen

    I know very little of your US sports, all I know is Wales 30 England 3

  30. ShanaC

    Meh, I think the NCAA is a bit corrupt and is using these poor kids

    1. LE

      Along those lines this (which is now on netflix) is a good watch:http://espn.go.com/30for30/…According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, 60 percent of former NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders, saddled with medical problems, and naturally prone to showing off, many pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. Drawing surprisingly vulnerable confessions from retired stars like Keith McCants, Bernie Kosar and Andre Rison, as well as Marvin Miller, the former executive director of the MLB Players Association, this fascinating documentary digs into the psychology of men whose competitive nature can carry them to victory on the field and ruin off it.That said you have to look at sports participation two ways. One way is “is it good for the participant”. The other way is “is it good for society”.For society I would say it is good as there is significant entertainment and economic value provided by sports (at the expense of those that participate).For individuals not the case most likely. Concentrating on sports and hoping to achieve success in that detracts from, I would say, the average persons ability to do other things that would be beneficial long term to them instead of the game they are playing. There is also injuries which require lifelong medication and pain or other complications.

      1. Steve Palmer

        30 for 30 offers some the best television programming out there. Amazing stories and reporting; just amazing nearly every time.

    2. JLM

      .The NCAA makes a bloody fortune which it, in turn, redistributes to its member schools. But there is a very clever mordida at work here. They distribute much of the funds in accordance with a complex formula that favors the participants (and their conferences) in the NCAA basketball tournament.Here’s a good article on the subject:http://espn.go.com/college-…They — the NCAA and intercollegiate sports in general — are absolutely stealing the life force, work product and entertainment provided by collegiate athletes and that is not fair.I have often thought that some big time programs — like Tx v OU football or UNC v Duke basketball — should stage a 5 minute work stoppage at the beginning of a contest by just taking their chairs and sitting on the court or field while the cameras roll.JLM.

      1. JamesHRH

        We are talking pennies, compared to the gridiron revenue though.Time to cut 10% of the revenue off the top for all the players, shared equally and to also give 10% of the licensing revenue for individual star players (which should be placed in trust and only paid out when the player graduates).

        1. JLM

          .Actually I think that the NCAA loses money on college football because they do not have a vehicle like March Madness to generate revenue.The BCS does not have very many events to drive revenue and I think most of that revenue goes to the teams and conferences.I once saw the entire spreadsheet for March Madness and it is unbelievable. It is closing in on $1B of total revenue.The really offensive thing about the NCAA is its enforcement and discipline processes. It is outrageous that players are subjected to such draconian discipline for stupidity. They should be allowed to be young and stupid and make reparations.JLM.

          1. JamesHRH

            I was thinking more holistically about the sports.You are absolutely right, obviously. Spreadsheet story is a classic JLM tale, BTW.Totally agree re: enforcement & punishment. Ridiculous.

          2. PhilipSugar

            If you count the donations generated by Football the numbers are just as good. Think about how much is costs to get good Longhorn Tickets.What bothers me is the hypocrisy. Student Athlete players. Fine faculty coaches paid no more than the average professor. It is always the administrators feeding at the trough.In my world you could offer a player upto two full paid scholarships for family/friends that is what you would do if you really wanted to “help” disadvantaged kids.As usual it is the top taking credit for that which they do not own. UT sells so much merchandize because it is UT not because of the coach or athletic director.

          3. JLM

            .You are perfectly correct as it relates to total revenue but I was just addressing revenue going to the NCAA. The Final Four $#$#$ goes to the NCAA directly.JLM.

  31. JLM

    .There is a time for mercy even in basketball, even in the NCAA Tournament. Last night was that time.What Montana did to Montana was awful. Talk about scared shitless, cold and in awe — Montana played itself out of their own uniforms. I would have seriously considered subbing the girl’s team, why not?What Syracuse did to Montana was criminal and the United Nations should be investigating this.Syracuse should have played the second half with only 4 players and two of them should have worn blindfolds.This was a beat down of gargantuan proportions. What kind of team shoots 4 for 31 from 3-point land? I can shoot better than that off the bench in ski boots. That is 13%.Then they fouled like it was a MMA contest and shot 20% overall.The Montana team looked so completely overwhelmed and dispirited as to need a testosterone transfusion — maybe mainlined in the neck, no?The “en-bitching” of Montana by Syracuse was so complete that Jim Boeheim put in the waterboy and his best friend and then the Syracuse players spent the night with the Montana team’s girlfriends — real and imaginary,Montana should give serious consideration to laying out next year in basketball.JLM.

    1. JamesHRH

      Whoa, indictment-city.I give them a little more sympathy. Their best player is a small guard – the ‘Cuse eats those teams alive. Their 2-3 zone has 2 guys on the top who are over 6’4″ (with long arms).You have to have big smalls to beat the Orange.

      1. JLM

        .Read more carefully, I was way beyond sympathy and deep into mercy. Haha.If I were one of the refs, I would have posted the half time score — Montana only got 15 points in the first half — as the final and allowed the bands to play from the floor.Choke City Grizzlies!JLM.

    2. John Revay

      then the Syracuse players spent the night with the Montana team’s girlfriends — real and imaginary,Good line!

  32. David Petersen

    Nate Silver gave Cal 0.0% of winning the tournament. But they won their first game against a #5 seed. Let’s go Cal!This is the may just become the anti-Nate Silver propaganda that Republicans have been looking for the past 4 years.

  33. LE

    Not being a sports fan this post prompted me to research the IP issues behind the term “March Madness”.I was able to turn up quite a bit of trademarks (both applied for and registered) to a “March Madness Athletic Association LLC”Here’s one in which I noted the transfer from the NCAA of that trademark.http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/…I then found this post which explains why that was done:http://seattletrademarklawy…“Following the Seventh Circuit decision in GTE Vantage, IHSA and NCAA decided to work together to protect their rights in March Madness. After several years of negotiation, IHSA and NCAA formed [the March Madness Athletic Association LLC] on February 29, 2000…. IHSA and NCAA each transferred all rights it held in March Madness to MMAA, and in return each received a license to use the term in relation to its basketball tournament.(Separately I had successfully retained possession of a name that the NCAA wanted and tried to obtain from me several years ago.)

  34. Scott Barnett

    Thanks for the march madness tip, definitely better…Go ‘Cuse!!

  35. Carl Rahn Griffith

    I don’t understand any of this but I love Montana 🙂

  36. Rob K

    Georgetown is a good sentimental Big East pick, although they don’t have enough firepower on offense. I too grew up on the Big East and I hate to see it disintegrate.My pick this year is Miami, they looked great all year and especially in the ACC tourney.

  37. markslater

    Our counsel just came in to the office running around convincing anyone that would listen that his alma-mata had a shot…..haaaavad it is for me.

    1. JLM

      .And why not?Al Gore played freshman basketball in the 1960s but it took a Dukie — Tommy Amaker — to bring Harvard to its glory.I suspect that Harvard will continue to appear in the NCAA Tournament with the same regularity and frequency. Wasn’t Harvard founded in 1636 or so?So every 300 years of so?JLM.

  38. JLM

    .I notice with interest that there are a lot of foreign players playing college hoops in the US.JLM.

    1. JamesHRH

      Is that a shot at the Canucks? the guys from Africa?There are a lot fewer Euros.

  39. pointsnfigures

    Ouch. Georgetown. Everyone’s bracket just blew up.

  40. JamesHRH

    FGCU!That’s gotta sting.

    1. fredwilson

      i jinxed them by putting them on AVC. it sure does sting. they played like crap until the last ten minutes. came out tight and couldn’t make a bucket for their life

      1. JamesHRH

        I heard the FSCU coach on ESPN radio this AM.He joined the program 2 years ago when they became NCAA tourney eligible. Signed the first 4 recruits they targeted (starting PG who is top 20 in the nation for assts per game, a forward who was Atlantic Sun Defence player of the Year, one of the centres & I think, the forward who went for 24/9 last night: also conference PoY ).The hoops coach as startup founder analogy again: he said when they started recruiting, they got confused with a Community College in the FLA panhandle (Gulf Coast CC, obv.). They did whatever they needed to do to face better competition & get better (he listed off a ton of solid games that they went on the road to play, they even beat Miami earlier in the year, in Miami). They focused on being better than the traditional power in their conference (Mercer: beat them 2 or 3 times in last 3 or 2 weeks including conference final……etc……..).Coach sounds exactly like Shaka Smart @ VCU or Brad Stevens @ Butler (the guys featured in the Grantland article).In 2 or 3 years, this may look more like a FGCU coming out party than a massive Hoya choke job.

        1. JLM

          .You have to remember they beat Miami early in the season when it is all talent. They are the real deal.The notion of playing the BEST competition is the real deal. Playing 3 cupcakes a year is what has ruined Texas football.This coach is the real deal. He can plan, execute, recruit, coach and inspire.The huge dunks were incredible points of fire and inspiration.When they had G’rown back peddling, they exploited the advantage. They kept to their game plan and it was a good one.That team played so loose and inspired that it fed upon itself. G’town played tight and tighter.JLM.

          1. JamesHRH

            I did not see the game, but I am surprised to hear that Thompson did not have his players prepped and that they tightened up.Maybe beating Louisville in the Big East regular season played against them (FGCU being a L’ville clone).Totally agree about the cupcake scheduling issue (not up to speed on UT, but in general, it is a mistake: Syracuse famous for padding their early season, although I think that is a financial choice too).

  41. PhilipSugar

    I guess your bracket looks pretty broken this morning 🙂

    1. fredwilson

      crushed

      1. Richard

        When I was about 12, I was sure that I could out-do/outsmart the local bookie and their nfl betting slips. I was wrong.

      2. PhilipSugar

        I know its just in my mind but everytime I heckle somebody’s else’s picks I get nailed. Its like a jinx.

  42. Daman Bahner

    Gonna have to go with my home team Marquette!

  43. John Revay

    Quick Aside – came across this Forbes piece 5 Trends That Will Drive The Future Of Technology – all topics we talk about here at AVC.http://tinyurl.com/azs9opl

    1. fredwilson

      thanks for sharing

  44. themike

    Lol @ Georgetown…. Next year maybe!

  45. Marissa

    I currently have my bets on Miami though this last last game against Illinois has me worried. They struggled.A thought that hit me when filling out my bracket this year was if March Madness would ever go away. What would be the death of March Madness? With a growing number of choices to take online classes instead of or to complement traditional collegiate schooling, I wonder how that impacts the bond between the college student and the college/university. Do online classes start to fray that bond? Will we have march madness teams from places like Udemy, Skillshare, etc one day? Ha ha. The thought itself makes me laugh, but who knows.Clay, love your take on MM. Me and a group of friends also came up with our own version of MM. We were tired of having blown out brackets after the first or second round so we came up with a way for everyone to keep playing by mashing together fantasy sports with march madness. Basically we form fantasy teams per region for every round. Person with the highest amount of points at the end of the tourney wins. If anyone has a blown out bracket and wants to try it out, you can email me at [email protected]. Be forewarned, we are playing on spreadsheets, which I know is not sexy, but that’s what it is for right now.