Barbershopman
TMF Master
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2006
- Messages
- 821
- Points
- 18
New York Jets, Miracle on Ice, Buster Douglas, and now University of Maryland Baltimore County.
The unthinkable has happened. The UMBC Retrievers knocked off the Virginia Cavaliers becoming the first 16 seed to knock off a 1 seed in March Madness history. Heck, they had to hit a buzzer-beater against Vermont to get into the big dance. Up until last night, 16 seeds were 0-135 versus 1 seeds since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
That busted all 17.3 million brackets in the ESPN challenge, no perfect brackets remain.
In truth, I'm not surprised this has happened. When I was in college in the late 80s, early 90s, number 1 seeds would blow out 16 seeds. The scores would be laughable, 100 something to 40 something, but times have changed. A number 1 seed doesn't guarantee a trip to the sweet sixteen anymore.
I chalk it up to the college field becoming more level over the years. Think about it, colleges have become more stringent to get into. There are a number of good high school players each year that are not quite good enough, or their grades aren't quite high enough to get into Duke, North Carolina, or Kansas. So they go to the tier two schools that they can get into. Get enough of those players on a team, and you can make a run in March.
This also serves as a wake-up call to future number one seeds. A team comes in being to full of themselves and plays lack-luster, and all a coach has to do is mention UMBC over Virginia to snap them to reality.
My, how times have changed.
Barbershopman
The unthinkable has happened. The UMBC Retrievers knocked off the Virginia Cavaliers becoming the first 16 seed to knock off a 1 seed in March Madness history. Heck, they had to hit a buzzer-beater against Vermont to get into the big dance. Up until last night, 16 seeds were 0-135 versus 1 seeds since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
That busted all 17.3 million brackets in the ESPN challenge, no perfect brackets remain.
In truth, I'm not surprised this has happened. When I was in college in the late 80s, early 90s, number 1 seeds would blow out 16 seeds. The scores would be laughable, 100 something to 40 something, but times have changed. A number 1 seed doesn't guarantee a trip to the sweet sixteen anymore.
I chalk it up to the college field becoming more level over the years. Think about it, colleges have become more stringent to get into. There are a number of good high school players each year that are not quite good enough, or their grades aren't quite high enough to get into Duke, North Carolina, or Kansas. So they go to the tier two schools that they can get into. Get enough of those players on a team, and you can make a run in March.
This also serves as a wake-up call to future number one seeds. A team comes in being to full of themselves and plays lack-luster, and all a coach has to do is mention UMBC over Virginia to snap them to reality.
My, how times have changed.
Barbershopman
