***Official 2018 NCAA Tourney Thread***

[cyclones500]

Loyola of Chicago is the 4th #11 seed to advance to the Final Four:

• 1986 Louisiana State
• 2006 George Mason
• 2011 Virginia Commonwealth

Expanding on that.

Seeding and team each 11 seed defeated to reach Final Four; and seeds defeated on way to Elite 8:
LSU: (1) Kentucky; 6, 3, 2.
George Mason: (1) UConn; 6, 3, 7.
VCU: (1) Kansas; 11 (first four), 6, 3, 10.
Loyola: (9) Kansas State; 6, 3, 7.

An 11-seed has yet to advance to title game. Seeding and team each faced (or will face) in national semifinal:
LSU: (2) Louisville (national champion)
George Mason: (3) Florida (national champion)
VCU: (8) Butler (national runner-up)
Loyola: (3) Michigan

 

[cyclones500]

Addition to my 11-seed post (which was an expansion of @HoopsTournament round-up of Loyola).

Loyola is first of the 11th-seeded Final Four teams that qualified for tournament as its league's auto bid. Other 3 were at-large.

 

[ClonesTwentyOne]

I still can't believe I picked ucla to the sweet 16. Next year I'm going 80% upsets in my bracket.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

My original go around I had Michigan in the final four and changed it.

 

[cyclones500]

My original go around I had Michigan in the final four and changed it.

I've done similar things numerous times. Out-guessed myself.

This time with, U-M, I decided almost immediately to go with it to nat'l final, and managed to not tamper with it.

I didn't get a helluva lot else right throughout the bracket, though.

 

[SerenityNow]

Come on, tech. Stupid touch fouls on jump shots. They're going to get run out the gym if they don't get their **** together.

 

[NWICY]

Poor shooting by Tech so far, only down by six, agree with Serenity way too many touch fouls.

 

[stormchaser2014]

Villanova is 5th in 3PA this year with 975. They shoot 40%.

 

[randomfan44]

Nova looks like the team to beat in this tourney. They are going to be a handful.

Getting ready to head down to the Kansas-Duke game in a few minutes. I am so excited that I feel a little nauseous. It is going to be an amazing environment in the arena today. I hope it goes our way but if it doesn't then it's still been an incredible season. Fingers crossed.

 

[CycloneErik]

Like tuco hasn't been obnoxious enough, he defiles a wonderfully good Cubs picture by associating us with this Kansas crap. That one ought to be removed.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

Like tuco hasn't been obnoxious enough, he defiles a wonderfully good Cubs picture by associating us with this Kansas crap. That one ought to be removed.

Only good news is that he won't be in here polluting the thread during the actual game. Well, at least I would think he wouldn't while sitting in the arena.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

Tech is about to get run out of this game. They had better make some big time adjustments at half time if they want to survive this.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

TTech just has no identity offensively, and haven't all year. They don't shoot well, and if Keenan Evans isn't producing, it's up to the freshmen Smith and Culver to produce, and they play like freshmen a lot of the time.

End of the day, TTU is probably at its peak in this Elite 8. Beard would be wise to leverage this success for a better job this offseason.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

Either way I have to admit I wasn't aware KSU had that kind of history. Admittedly I was more of a Big Ten fan as a kid until the mid 90s when I switched over to ISU mid Floyd era.

Tex Winter was one of the notable head coaches at KSU. He was there for 15 years with his triangle offense and went to 2 final fours.

 

[isu81]

TTech just has no identity offensively, and haven't all year. They don't shoot well, and if Keenan Evans isn't producing, it's up to the freshmen Smith and Culver to produce, and they play like freshmen a lot of the time.

End of the day, TTU is probably at its peak in this Elite 8. Beard would be wise to leverage this success for a better job this offseason.

He’s not going anywhere.

 

[Cyched]

Nova looks pretty sharp.

 

[CloneLawman]

TT is still in the game--if they hit their damn free throws it would be even closer.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

This one is over.

 

[NWICY]

Not enough time left for tech to catch back up. Nice run for them this yr. though.

 

[clones2005]

Tech had a chance mid way through the 2nd half where Nova wasn't scoring. Unfortunately they couldn't make a layup during that stretch so they didn't close the gap when they could have.

Either way, good year for Tech. Would love to be in their position right now.