Maryland-Belmont tipping off now.
Chris Fuamatu-Maʻafala all the way.
Queen with another 3 and now it’s only a six-point lead for Auburn.
Mine is Doug Mientkiewicz, Tony.
What difficult athlete name do you get right every time? I know Chris knows Antetokounmpo by heart.
Geoff, interesting that Aurrecoechea is listed as a junior, because the man appears to be ~ 35 years old.
Fourth-seeded FSU is struggling with No. 13 Vermont, but 7-foot-4 Christ Koumadje is causing some matchup problems with the Catamounts inside.
Tony, I’m not expecting much of a “game” against Bradley, although [checks notes] uh-oh looks like MSU is already down 6 points.
Nate, are you just joining for the Michigan State game and then leaving?
It hurts me just looking at it.
New Mexico State’s Ivan Aurrecoechea haunts copy editors’ dreams.
Vermont comes out and makes a three right out of halftime. They’re shooting 23 percent on twos yet staying in the game by hitting 53 percent from downtown.
Auburn is 7-of-13 from 3-point land this half.
A barrage of threes for Auburn here in the second half. That’s 10 in the game now.
Wow
Cyprus won 5-0! The next Euro games aren’t until 3:45 p.m. Eastern, so I guess we can watch some basketball for now.
Speaking of winners, how is the Cyprus-San Marino game going?
Yeah, but Geoff, being a Carolina fan means I’m always a winner … in life.
Easy to focus on the 2016 opening round loss to Middle Tennessee State, but since 2000, no team has performed better in the tourney against seed expectations than Michigan State.
Michigan State-Bradley underway now.
Tony, you realize if you pick based on your fan interests, you will always lose. (Note: I picked Michigan to make Final Four, so I’m a complete hypocrite.)
I picked Villanova in the South, and I’m pretty sure they will lose to St. Mary’s later today.
I got Michigan State, Gonzaga, Virgina and UNC. More importantly, I had Duke losing in the second round.
I got Gonzaga, Michigan State, Tennessee and Auburn!
Apparently I picked Virginia, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Auburn.
I’ve got Duke, Michigan, Virginia and UNC.
I went with Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, Kentucky and Tennessee. None have played and I’m regretting just about all of them.
I would have picked all four No. 1 seeds, but I’m from East Lansing, so I picked Michigan State over goddamned Duke, obviously.
I have Duke, and I kinda hate myself.
Here’s who the FiveThirtyEight bracket pool thinks is going to win:
Duke: 5
Virginia: 4
UNC: 3
Michigan state: 2
Tennessee: 1
Gonzaga: 1
Michigan: 1
🤔 I wonder who picked Michigan State to win it all. Nate and……
This was one of the hardest brackets to pick in years for me. I found it almost impossible to identify teams to advance to the Final Four in both the South and Midwest, so I just left that side blank.
After listening to Hot Takedown, I undid all of my predictions and picked from the heart. My bracket will be in pieces momentarily.
If you haven’t listened to the recent Hot Takedown podcast yet (it’s back!!), Sara, Geoff and Neil shared their Final Four picks on it. Who does everyone like?
In related news, excited to see Belmont in action soon. We give them a competitive 38 percent chance of beating Maryland and 37 percent against LSU if that matchup does happen.
LSU will head into the next round as slight favorites (57 percent) against whoever wins the Maryland/Belmont matchup later today.
In other action, Florida State and Vermont are tied at the half.
You have to feel for Miye Oni, the Ivy League player of the year. He was 2-of-16 today and 1-of-10 from three. He probably should have stopped shooting?
Yale was 19-for-35 from two, 8-for-35 from three, and they lost by 5? Man.
LSU survives! Yale didn’t make it easy.
Just brutal.
Yale has made 4 of its past 5 threes after making 4 of their first 28, I think
Perhaps by accident, but still.
Yale keeps fouling LSU’s players by hitting them in the eye!
Another three for Yale on a very difficult contested look from the corner, down only 4 now and will keep fouling. LSU has been so-so on the line so far.
Maybe a little. Wasn’t it just last year or the year before that Texas A&M came back from 11 down to win in the final minute or something? College players aren’t the greatest FT shooters.
Our model gives Yale only a 2 percent chance of winning when they’re down 5 with ~40 seconds remaining — that seems a bit harsh?
Finally, a three. But maybe too late. LSU still up 5, with just over 40 seconds left.