A New ‘Movement’ To Get Dan Dakich Into March Madness

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As we inch day by day towards another thrilling and highly anticipated edition of March Madness – because March Madness is always thrilling and highly anticipated – I continue to be struck by one nagging negative thought: there will be no Gus Johnson this March.

While no one can ever replace Gus, there is one clear way that the folks at CBS and Turner Sports can rise and fire a shot in the arm of their NCAA Tournament coverage for this year and into the future: sign up Dan Dakich as a color commentator.

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6 Reasons Brad Stevens Will Not and Should Not Leave Butler

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Editor’s note: I wrote the post below on March 20th, soon after Butler defeated Pittsburgh to advance to the Sweet 16. I am bringing it back to the front of the site because the questions about Brad Stevens’ future have only intensified since that win, with Butler now sitting on the precipice of the most unlikely NCAA title of all-time.

Since I wrote this, many other posts have come out parroting these points – with some doing this extremely well and adding further insight, like Dan Wetzel today. For those wondering why Brad Stevens would eschew more money and seemingly “bigger” jobs to remain at Butler, this post explains it.

As soon as the final buzzer sounded to officially conclude Butler’s thrilling victory over Pittsburgh (or wait – was that a whistle!?) it was inevitable: the talk of Brad Stevens leaving Indy for seemingly greener coaching pastures.

For example, I tweeted (only half-jokingly) that I was going to add a category to my bracket predictions for next year that awards a point “if your coach is Brad Stevens.” Immediately I received this response from Twitter user @EricJDoll: “So Tennessee gets an automatic bonus point?” I responded that there is no way Stevens will be in Knoxville next year and that the Tennessee job isn’t nearly as good a job as the Butler gig that Stevens already has. @EricJDoll responded: “I hope he stays at Butler, but somebody is going to throw A LOT of money at him this summer.”

And he’s right. There is absolutely no hotter coaching name than Brad Stevens, and a number of high profile schools would probably fire their current coach if they knew they could bring in Stevens. So any big conference team in a BCS conference would gladly throw buckets of money at Stevens to lure him away from Indy. But it ain’t happening.

In this post, I’m going to outline a number of reasons that those buckets of money will not and should not matter. Brad Stevens is going to be a ‘Dawg for a long, long time.

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As the NCAA Tournament will later tonight, the Captain Morgan BracketMaster Challenge Names Its Champion

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As you may remember, a few weeks or so ago MSF had our very own Morganette, Erica, participating in the Captain Morgan BracketMaster Challenge presented by Spike.com.

We didn’t win, but but either Kelly or Nicole will be named the National Champion Morganette in all the land, so congratulations to those two lovely ladies. (As of 9:00 this morning, Nicole was winning 68%-32%, so it looks like she’ll be the winner.)

Update: Nope! Kelly won. Congrats to her and Joshua Estrin of Examiner and Celeb Buzz.

Hmm, I wonder how one would go about celebrating a Captain Morgan-sponsored event championship? Hopefully responsibly, at least.

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Butler-Connecticut National Championship Game TV Tip Time, Point Spread, and Prediction

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In the first of tonight’s two Final 4 matchups, the Butler Bulldogs defeated VCU 70-62 to advance to the NCAA Championship Game on Monday night.

In the second Final 4 game, Connecticut led most of the way and held on for a close victory late. Kentucky had a shot for a three on their final possession, but they missed. UConn grabbed the rebound and held on for the victory.

Monday night, the 8th seeded Butler Bulldogs will face the 3rd seeded Connecticut Huskies to determine the 2011 national championship. It’s David versus Goliath, and it’s going to be one hell of a game.

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Think perfect Final 4 bracket is impossible? Think again.

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The 2011 NCAA Tournament has, without question, one of the most unlikely Final 4 quartets all time.

Blue bloods Kentucky and Connecticut are one side of the Final 4 bracket. On the other side? Well, that’s where things get monstrously F’d up.

8th-seeded Butler, tournament champion of the Horizon League, faces 11th seeded Virginia Commonwealth, tournament runner-up of the Colonial Athletic Association. And no, that is not a typo, despite the Kansas, Purdue, Pittsburgh, and Florida fans that you see wiping their eyes in disbelief.

Well surely no one could have had a Butler, VCU, Connecticut, Kentucky Final 4…right? Wrong. Someone got it right.

Allow me to introduce you to the most genius idiot in the history of sports prognosticating.

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The Recipe for an NCAA Tournament Upset and How You Can Pick Them in the Future

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The 2011 NCAA Tournament has not been one to disappoint if you are a fan of upsets and Cinderella Stories.  This year has been one of the craziest years in terms of upsets, and you have to look no further than the Southwest Region where the 10, 11, and 12 seeds all made the Sweet 16.

Many may wonder how are these high seeds winning so many games.  The answer to this question has two parts: defense and, most importantly, the three-point shot.

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March Madness 2011: Sweet 16 Preview and Picks

Maybe it’s about time we all start paying attention to the season-long observations of Ari Kaufman…

To wit – BYU and San Diego State can indeed pair off with anyone in the country and the mistake is still being made involving sleeping on the Butler Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, North Carolina and Duke both survived their second round games by the skin of their teeth, partly because the NCAA always mandates that one of the tourney sites during the first two weekends be somewhere in the state of North Carolina.

If Washington v. Tar Heels were played instead in say Cleveland or Tulsa, does Carolina still survive the round of 32??

And the Big East surpassed all expectations of a possible thud; throw out UConn and Marquette (who beat other Big East members over the weekend) and the conference was essentially shut out. Charles Barkley may be outspoken, but before Selection Sunday I was one of those that suggested that the Big East be capped at eight teams, even if it would have left out the school whose campus I drive through every day and that now gets their long-awaited tourney rematch with North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

When the smoke finally cleared last night, the chalk survived with ten of the 16 top seeds. As we decompress after four days of wall-to-wall hoops, a synopsis on the four Regionals, and some of the teams that went by the wayside.

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Video: Jubilant Butler Bulldogs celebrate in locker room after thrilling win over Pittsburgh

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I’ll be damned…Butler is doing it again.

With a thrilling 71-70 victory over #1 seed Pittsburgh, Brad Stevens and the #8 seed Bulldogs are moving on to the Sweet 16.

In the locker room after the game, a jubilant bunch of ‘Dawgs and their terrific coach celebrated what has become commonplace for them: a down-to-the-wire victory over a higher profile, favored foe.

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March Madness 2011: Four Upset Picks That Could Bust Brackets

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Selection Sunday has come and gone, and the madness is about ready to begin.

The brackets were revealed with an interesting panel that included the constantly smiling Seth Davis and the always honest Charles Barkley, and while watching the selection show, I saw four games that I believe can really shake up the brackets.

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March Madness 2011: TV Schedule, Announcers & Viewing Gameplan for Thursday NCAA Tournament Games

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Some people obviously have a problem with the new 68-team format, but a new feature of the 2011 NCAA Tournament that almost most everyone is in favor of is the fact that every single game will be broadcast nationally in its entirety.

Whereas before games were televised only on CBS, thus putting you at the whims of CBS’ decision-making for what game would be shown in your area, now you can choose whatever game you wish with TNT, TBS, and truTV joining CBS for March Madness TV coverage. Thus, no longer must you sit passively waiting for Greg Gumbel to bring you live look-ins or have your laptop open to March Madness On Demand. Any game will be just a click of the remote away.

But, as great as this sounds, there is an unintended consequence: you must now be your own viewing director. No more passive March Madness consumption. Are you ready for the challenge? It may be more of one than you think.

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March Madness 2011 Preview: NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament Tickets, Dates, Sites & TV Info

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Update: For the second year in a row, we are holding an MSF Bracket Challenge over at ESPN.com. Sign up now and then fill in your brackets after they are announced on Selection Sunday.

March Madness 2011 is going to have a bit of a different flavor than the past few because, once again, the tournament field has been expanded.

The last expansion added a 65th team and instituted a so-called “play-in” game, which matched the two lowest seeded teams against one another for the right to play the top overall seed. That game has now been eliminated (or perhaps repurposed would be a better word), and three more teams have been added to the field – bringing the total to 68 overall.

In this post we will describe how the newly minted “First Four” round will play out, as well as provide all of the March Madness 2011 dates and locations, plus March Madness 2011 ticket and TV information.

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Schools With Most NCAA Mens College Basketball Tournament Championships

Earlier this week I wrote a post about the Purdue basketball program being the must underrated college basketball program in the country. The crux of the argument was that because Purdue does not have a national championship since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939, whereas, for example, Indiana has five, the Boilermakers’ regular season accomplishments are not respected as they should be.

As usual, some people agreed and some people disagreed. What cannot disputed as we get ready to embark on March Madness 2011 and another NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament, is the importance of being the last team standing in March. As any Indiana fan can tell you, once you hang a banner for a national championship, no one can ever take it away from you – and it gives you a pretty strong trump card in any argument over teams with fewer or zero national titles.

So which school has the ultimate trump card? Well, UCLA does of course, with their 11 national titles. The table below shows you all the teams who have won the NCAA Mens College Basketball Tournament, and which schools have won it the most.

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Bubble Boys: BCS Edition

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A full slate of college hoops over the weekend yielded its share of bubble winners and losers.  It also reaffirmed the general mediocrity in many leagues and reinforced how few teams can actually win games away from home.

The good news is that makes for a ton of exciting basketball.  The bad news is that it makes for a ton of teams for me to write about in this edition of Bubble Boys.

Here’s my list of locks from the six major conferences, obviously barring significant injury or utter collapse:

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This Week’s Evidence Joey Brackets Doesn’t Watch College Hoops

I gave ESPN bracketologist Joe Lundardi a break last week, but a few of the seeds in this week’s installment of his projected bracket are just begging to be called out.

While the decisions below are questionable, there’s no truth to the rumor that Lunardi also came up with the ridiculous inset coach’s cam used during the Kansas-Kansas State game.

Here’s a quick rundown of things that made me wonder if Joey Brackets’ wife is making him watch Real Housewives instead of basketball.

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Bubble Boys: Non-BCS Edition

Selection Sunday is now fewer than four weeks away, and teams are making their final push to make the field of 68.  With mediocrity the soup du jour (that’s the soup of the day) in most major conferences, there is no shortage of opportunities for non-BCS conference teams to play their way into the Big Dance.

The problem is that the applicant pool is fairly weak in the so-called mid-majors as well.  But somebody has to get in, right?

Since I don’t want to make any of the fine editors here at MSF have to read through a breakdown of every bubble team at once, I’m tackling the non-BCS leagues in this installment of “Bubble Boys.”

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