Another Sad, Ridiculous Tournament

[bigunreal]

Why do we subject ourselves to this nonsense every year? Do any of us really think that Butler, Notre Dame or Washington State will win the championship? Or even make the Final Four? Already, Drake is out, Vanderbilt is out, BYU is out, and now Duke has been upset. Shocking! Also, the schedule makers set it up, once again, so that the few white teams are all clustered together, making it a virtual certainty that the last several games of "March Madness" will be almost white-free.

I'm tired of rooting for the team with one white starter, or two white reserves that get some playing time. We should demand something a little more substantial than that. Also, I don't care how good Tyler Hansborough or Kevin Love are- they are the only white players on their respective teams. That isn't good enough for me. At this point, the ONLY way I will be happy is if either Butler or Notre Dame somehow wins the championship.

 

[Liverlips]

WVU is as white as Duke so no big loss there. ND or WASU is our best hope.

 

[Liverlips]

Oh, and don't forget Wisconsin.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I'm no expert on how the tournaments are set up, but since the same teams pretty much year in and year out are white friendly, can't we reasonably expect them to be bunched together in the same brackets year after year as well?

 

[bigunreal]

Colonel Reb,

I'm no expert on how the brackets are set up, either, but I don't think specific teams are tied to any particular region. I'm not sure what factors in to how they are divided up, other than their regular season record. Butler, for instance, was really given a shabby slot. They were ranked in the Top 10 most of the year, yet were only a #7 seed. Even the jock-sniffers on t.v. acknowledged how unjustified that was.

 

[white is right]

I'm no expert on how the tournaments are set up, but since the same teams pretty much year in and year out are white friendly, can't we reasonably expect them to be bunched together in the same brackets year after year as well?

No the teams are ranked by a computer based on their schedule and accomplishments. The 4 best teams regardless of their location are given separate sections. After that I don't know how they fill in the rest. Also mid-majors usually get screwed with their seedings ie Gonzaga since they have gotten nationally rated.

 

[Liverlips]

We have at least 4 white-friendly teams (play 3-4 whites at a time)in the Sweet 16:

Wash. St.
Michigan St.
WVU
Wisconsin

Hopefully Butler and Davidson will join them today.

I have not seen Western Kentucky or San Diego. Anyone know if they are white friendly?

 

[Van_Slyke_CF]

WVU might appear "white friendly", but that`s only because the standout whites they have like Alex Ruoff and the super-athletic Joe Alexander were brought in by the previous coach,JohnBeilein. With Bob Huggins as the coachnow, I find it hard to believe he will continue their tradition of having numerous white playersas with Beilein`s teams. Ifyou look at Huggins`recruiting record at Cincy-don`t even waste the time with the pathetic graduation rate-you can expect ablackteam from one end of the bench to the other in about 2 years.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

San Diego has one white that plays off the bench some. Western Kentucky starts one white, the guy who beat Drake. Not good at all. Western Kentucky should be majority white all the time, but even there and in Appalachia most coaches have become Caste-garden tools.

 

[Gi-15]

This is my first time looking at the march madness. And i'm kind of a BB hater. But this Butler team is putting in a good show, I hope they beat Tennesse, it's pretty close with 2 minutes to go

 

[Gi-15]

Davidson are looking for another upset too! And they have two Quebec kid on their roster! Represent baby!

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Davidson wins, but Butler loses. I was really pulling for Butler, but at least Georgetown is gone. I hate that team and their coaches, past and present.

 

[Leonardfan]

I wish I was able to get another view of that block of AJ Graves shot when they were down 2. I was glad to see Davidson beat Georgetown which embodies everything wrong with sport in America.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

I thought some bad calls determined the Butler-Tennessee game. Graves had the ball tied up with a Tennessee player under the hoop near the end of regulation and a foul was called resulting in two made foul shots for Tennessee. Then this Green guy for Butler missed one of two free throws near the end of regulation.

Then in overtime, there was another lousy play by Green, where he lost control and went out of bounds, just stupid. And again there was yet again another questionable call on the block of A.J Graves shot, I thought it might have been goal tending. If that guy really did get that block on that shot it was at the last possible second and he has some serious ups. Bad officiating yet again causes another white team to lose...

You got to hate the refs. Last year they allowed Jeff Greene to make an obvious travel for Georgetown against Vanderbilt and hit the winning shot, this year the refs down Butler! I guess they are weary of another ESPN report on how white officials send white players to the charity stripe more than black refs.

Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[Colonel_Reb]

If I was Graves, I would have taken the ball on up instead of allowing that block to develop. He gave them too much time.

 

[Gi-15]

And it was amazing how that Green guy was trying to do everything by himself and never let the play develop. He scored on only 1 of his about 4 all-alone effort...

 

[Skipperron]

I am really glad to see Davidson beat Georgetown. Not only is Georgetown black black black but they are in your face about it. One of the most rascist teams in the nation.

I figured and rightly so that when Davidson beat them all the media would show or talk about was a black player on Davidson and I was right. Oh well.

 

[bigunreal]

First, I'm amazed that Georgetown lost, and to a white friendly team no less. That's a very good thing. However, other than that, little to cheer about today.

The foul call on A.J. Graves was one of the worst I've ever seen. Absolute, blatant racism on the part of the referee. He got all ball- it was a beautiful defensive play, and it was amazing to see that kind of aggressiveness on the part of a white player. When you see the result, however (bogus foul called), you can understand the reluctance of so many white players to even attempt to play aggressive defense against their black counterparts. There is no way that ANY black player would be called for a foul on the exact same play versus ANY player, black or white. That call basically cost Butler the game. Shocker that once again, the white dominated team is screwed over by the refs. It's all coincidence, of course.

Of the remaining white-friendly teams (West Virginia, Washington State, Davidson, Wisconsin, Michigan State), only West Virginia and Washington State would be able to strike any kind of blow against the Caste system, should they somehow defy all the odds and win it all. West Virginia has many white players, and their star player (Joe Alexander) is white. Washington State is mostly white, with no black star that the media can concentrate all its attention on (as is the case with Davidson). I was not surprised to see that, of the handful of white- friendly teams remaining, two will play each other in the next round (Davidson-Wisconsin).

So far, we've seen the top white dominated teams (Duke, Notre Dame, Butler, Drake) all lose early. That's par for the course in the NCAA tournament. We do have a few interesting teams left, but unless things turn out very differently than they have for most of the past 40 years or so, the Final Four will feature all black or mostly black (no more than one white starter) teams. West Virginia and Washington State will have to overcome all that history, plus the kind of blatantly biased officiating we saw in the Butler-Tennessee game, if they are to somehow win the championship.

 

[Riggins44]

The best thing about the Georgetown loss was all of the calls that the refs made against Georgetown. The refs made at least half a dozen calls in the second half that they are usually too scared to make against black teams and players. Things like holding and hand checking on defense and swinging elbows on offense. It was very refreshing to see and it was obvious that John Thompson III and his players were seething with rage that the obvious fouls they constantly commit were actually being called. It was simply beautiful to watch them go down in defeat to such a white team.

 

[mrjohnnynofear]

I am really glad to see Davidson beat Georgetown. Not only is Georgetown black black black but they are in your face about it. One of the most rascist teams in the nation.

I figured and rightly so that when Davidson beat them all the media would show or talk about was a black player on Davidson and I was right. Oh well.

That was the only thing I was worried about. To be fair Stephen Curry is the MVP of this tournament and is playing lights out. And Andrew Loveland did a good job on Roy Hibbert. But without Jason Richards dishing the ball and Max Paulhus Gosselin doing a bit of everything, they would not have won either. Do you think it still serves to bust the caste when there is 3-4 white starters and the only 1 or 2 african-american players on the floor are the ones getting 90% of the spotlight?Edited by: mrjohnnynofear

 

[white is right]

WVU might appear "white friendly", but that`s only because the standout whites they have like Alex Ruoff and the super-athletic Joe Alexander were brought in by the previous coach, John Beilein. With Bob Huggins as the coach now, I find it hard to believe he will continue their tradition of having numerous white players as with Beilein`s teams. If you look at Huggins` recruiting record at Cincy-don`t even waste the time with the pathetic graduation rate-you can expect a black team from one end of the bench to the other in about 2 years.

Bob Huggins is dirty coach and dirty coaches generally don't recruit white athletes(unless they are no brainer studs). Didn't Bob Huggins get run out of Cincy because of his scandals combined with a DUI offense? Short of Minn U getting stand ins to take tests for players, Cincy was up there in problems..Edited by: white is right

 

[bigunreal]

I am amazed at the eternal optimism from some of the posters on this site. Tonight, we saw the top two teams, from a white-friendly perspective, go down to defeat. The West Virginia loss was particularly absurd, featuring the same sort of officiating we always see in these tournaments when a "white" team plays a "normal" (i.e., all or almost all black) team.

Look at how many white-dominated teams were in this tournament, who had impressive regular seasons: Duke, Notre Dame, Butler, Drake, Gonzaga, BYU all quickly eliminated. Now, West Virginia and Washington State gone. Do you really think Davidson is going to go to the Elite Eight? Wisconsin has a slim chance, but they don't have a true white star, and they aren't going any further, regardless, with that many white players.

Once again, we've seen our high hopes crushed, we've seen all black Cinderella teams, and we will see an all, or almost all black Final Four. It's been the same story now for decades. Why do we support this nonsense? How obvious does it have to be? If somehow, the white players can overcome the natural (and understandable) intimidation they feel when playing an all black, hightly aggressive team, the officials will simply step in, as they have done repeatedly in these tournaments, and make sure the white team doesn't win.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I'm not supporting anything, bigunreal. I must admit I'm not quite sure what you are talking about there. I don't go to the games, I don't even watch them on TV. I happened to catch a little of them today online while I had some free time. Yeah, the tournament stinks, from the standpoint of how it is set up and how it is officiated. We all know that. I figured both white(r) teams would lose today and they did. I'm definitely not one of the "eternal optimists" when it comes to things like this. I'm not a "fix is always in" person either. Saying how much things suck all the time isn't going to make things any better, so why dwell on the negative so much while ignoring some of the positives whites have made in other team sports, or in individual achievements?

 

[texasheat]

I'm hearing a lot of talk about TEAMS & that's cool as we all want white-friendly teams to do well in the tourney. But, I also think it's important to look at the big picture of how PLAYERS are doing as well.

And, in that respect, has anyone had a more kick-ass tournament run than Kevin Love? (although the aforementioned Stephen Curry can lay a clm to that as well).

Love's stat line tonight against Western Kentucky: 29 points / 14 boards / some awesome passes that aren't really going to show up in the box score.

.. against Texas A & M: 19 points / 11 boards / 7 blocks.

And, if anyone saw that game against A&M on TV you would know UCLA would be done w/o Love hitting clutch shots down the stretch.

Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftree were very complementary of Big Love tonight & gave great exposure to the drunk white fans who think white people can't play b-ball very well.

Couple him with Tyler Hansbrough & you could be looking at a NCAA Championship where the two most important players on the court ... and the best players ... are white. And THAT is progress my friends!

 

[bigunreal]

Colonel Reb,

I certainly didn't mean to single you out about anything. I always enjoy your comments here. I wish, in fact, that I had the gift that you (and some others here) have for finding the positives in this sea of sports negativity. My wife would agree with you about my pessimism. I guess I read too much Ambrose Bierce.

I do think it's nice to see a couple of white stars on teams that could win it all. However, neither Love nor Hansborough have any white teammates that get playing time. In this respect, they are a lot like Dirk Nowitski and Steve Nash. I think that the unusually positive coverage of Kevin Love by the jock-sniffing media may have something to do with the fact his father is Beach Boys' lead singer Mike Love. A lot of those jock-sniffers loved the Beach Boys when they were young, I would venture. His uncle, Stan Love, was an NBA player back in the 1970s. Kevin Love is, no doubt about it, a potential superstar.