Real Deal

Close game. Boston misses Perkins...it's pretty obvious at this point.

TIME: 8:49 PM ET TV: CBS

TIME: 6:09 PM ET TV: CBS

Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale should register and post all of OTR's brackets. In a seven-game series, VCU doesn't beat KU. They were extremely hot from three, and they did what all teams who live and die by the three do. Their first half won the game, up by 18 at one point. KU fired from everyone on the court, but hit hardly anything, 6-24 after pulling within two points in that second half and very pathetic shooting despite being wide-open for a lot of shots (Reed shot 1-10 or so with most of his wide open). Other than KU, who did VCU beat? Georgetown has been choking for the last three years in the tourney. Purdue was injured, and they were having internal problems. The win against FSU wasn't notably impressive...they were handed a 10th seed for a reason, despite being a very good defensive team. What happens if VCU wins it all? Are we all stupid? Bilas and Vitale have to make their picks and speak about them on air, in front of the country. I can go and find many times where both were correct when everyone else was looking dumb, and the same goes for NBA analysts as well. Only two ESPN brackets (of about six million) had the entire Final Four correct. Among those six million, only 192 of them correctly picked the Butler/VCU match-up in the Final Four. Very few in the nation knew what was going to happen.

LOL at some of these people that would've NEVER made statistical and individual performance arguments back in 2005 and 2006, when Kobe Bryant was clearly the best player the NBA had seen since MJ. Makes me sick to my stomach that none of them would've made those arguments for LeBron last season, either.

Great to hear it didn't turn out to be as bad as it could've been. I can't stand some of the drivers in my area. I live right behind a high school, and they drive recklessly down my street in the morning and after school is out, and it pisses me off.

So much for me winning this pick'em.

Reed, Morningstar, and Selby all suck ass. I'm so pissed right now. And Markieff didn't do a damn thing but turn the ball over. Just disappointing to see these guys fold like lawn chairs when under pressure. Bill Self is a head coach, and he has a championship under his belt. He coached like a damn kiddy recreational basketball coach in that first half. Pretty pathetic. No Elite 8 spot deserves praise if you're a top seed in the tourney. There's nothing good about the season.

Arenas is done, as far as I'm concerned. He's shooting 34% for Orlando this season, and a lot of those shots have been wide open. The Magic need to figure out something, because he's going to cost them a shot at a championship if he continues to play important minutes for them. Korver was spotting up at Creighton, jacking eight threes a game in his last season, out of less than 12 shots a game. I still remember how he played, but I don't remember Eddie House (although I do know he played for Arizona State, and they weren't good enough to be in the tourney). Korver was definitely not the same player, so it makes me believe Fredette can be more. But you're right about how none of this means he can get it done at the next level. All I'm saying is that there's nothing that I can say proves that he's similar to those two players, when they were in college or their current play in the NBA. Fredette will have all of the tools available to him, for him to get better. Once you're selected and stuck on a team, you're forced to learn the game. It took Redick a bit, but he finally picked things up and improved on both ends of the court. Same with Trevor Ariza, and many others every single year. My only problem with all of this is that Fredette was the primary option for BYU, and on a lot of nights, he was the only option. There's no way he'll have that in the NBA, so that's less defensive attention already. I can't ignore the fact that defenders are much better on a pro level, obviously, but at the same time, a lot of that can be neutralized by the type of offense ran. You talk about Morrison and how he could've been something. Morrison was a pretty good offensive player, mainly when he was popping jumpers. Kobe stated that he was one amazing shooter, one of the best he's seen in a while (in practice, of course). Morrison's crutch wasn't just his injury, but the fact that he was absolutely horrific on the defensive end, which is what people thought about Redick as well, and what some will probably think about Fredette. Ironically, you see that with Korver and House as well, and that's really the only comparison I draw between these players and Fredette. Jimmer is a smart player when he's actually getting his team involved. When he's chucking shots, it's him being ignorant and trying to take over games. That may sound stupid, but Kobe Bryant was the same way when he was young, and so was Jordan at one point of his career. I'm definitely not going to draw a comparison between those guys, because Jimmer will never reach that level, but it's solid proof that players can in fact change their ways with the right teammates and coaches around them, both based on the talent and leadership those teammates and coaches provide.

How does being injury-prone change how talented you are? The reply was to a comment about Ohio State not producing the talent, but they did with Greg Oden. It's not about becoming a great player, it was simply about him having that talent coming out of Ohio State. Oden was picked #1 because he was going to be one of the best defensive anchors in the league, near Dwight's level. Being able to prove he has that talent for those games he did play should be enough for someone to recognize that it's there. The part about him putting it to use and becoming a great player...well, that's a different story.

I absolutely hate 40 minute, 5 fouls in college. The scores are too low, and there's less time to make a couple more scoring runs. As far as an 82-game regular season goes, it's not a big deal to me. I hope they keep it the same. However, that's because I'm a fan and not an athlete. I'm pretty sure most players would rather see a lighter schedule, maybe the same length in days/months go, but having less games with bigger gaps in between (more rest, less wear and tear on body). But if you ask me, as a fan, I want the 82 games simply because I love watching as many games as I possibly can.

It's like that at my house every hour, so I don't have to pay a $300 electric bill.

In other words, people aren't setting God as a higher priority than their obsession with sports.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20110326_TOR@LAC

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracker/recap/NBA_20110326_DAL@UTA

No comments in this topic, despite having a few Knicks fans on board. New York better get it together. This game was ridiculous, for what I saw of it. That stretch in the second quarter was horrible.

Greg Oden is/was a great NBA talent...minus the injuries. One of the best defensive players in the NBA when he's healthy.

I can't make one anonymous and not the other, and that will create a problem (and a small one, not the biggest). I gave you guys a poll to decide if we should lift the word filter, and I went ahead and did it. Since then, people have been cussing each other out, and I've deleted a few posts that shouldn't have been made. This isn't an option. There are two sites I know of that are ruined partially because of negative reps. They go around and neg-rep each other just because of who that person is (ex. negative reps for every post Sacha makes), and it's really not your call to do something like that. If you agree with a post, there isn't much more to add to a discussion. If you disagree, there's a TON you can add. There's nothing wrong with what we are doing right now. Sometimes, I have to make the decisions, despite how the community feels. How many people wanted Diesel unbanned the first time he was tossed? Plenty, and it happened. The second time? Plenty. Eventually, people found out he didn't give a damn about the site, that he had multiple accounts, that he was posting under different (and fake) Facebook and Twitter names, threatening members and athletes. I would rather just eliminate reputation points altogether, than to add a negative rep. It doesn't matter what certain members promise...3-4 guys won't be speaking for the entire community, and saying the system won't be abused is like me saying members will never up and leave the site.

There are way too many unintelligent college players out there. I have no idea how many times I've seen a 30-foot three-point attempt in this tourney. With that said, YES...we avoided FSU and UF, two bigger teams of the four we could've played. Wasn't really worried, but the less work we have to put in, the more rest we get, and that's only a positive as we progress through the bracket.

That's true, but that wouldn't have been the case if all of the so-called "good teams" weren't falling. Right when the brackets were put up, it was Pitt who had the easiest road. Purdue, Louisville and Notre Dame were all supposedly threats to knock out Kansas (especially Louisville), and Florida State may have been the most dangerous of them all based on how well they were playing defense (and their size), and now all of them are gone. But if Kansas is beating the teams that defeated those, I mean, it's basically irrelevant. Teams like Richmond and VCU are proving to be better than most thought, but they don't match up with KU, and we have known for years that it's all about match-ups (and that's been pretty evident over the last two weeks). I think KU would've knocked off every team on the right side of that bracket anyway, and after seeing the way Sullinger was bullied by Josh Harrellson (Sully's points came when Josh was in foul trouble, either on the bench or just sticking his arms up), I believe he would've struggled just as much against the Morris twins or Robinson, and a KU team that is far, far better rebounding the ball.

TIME: 5:05 PM ET TV: CBS

TIME: 2:20 PM ET TV: CBS

TIME: 7:05 PM ET TV: CBS

TIME: 4:30 PM ET TV: CBS

Big headline: Luke Harangody put up 10/9 in just 17 minutes. Dude was out of control.