Somehow, I’m not leading the OTE Bracket challenge. I’ll assume that’s just a computer error.

SharpDressedBoiler, fighiganstate, layup00, and espn27255950 lead the pack after day 1 with fishiganstate still having a 1910 score possibility. Impressive.

I recognize one of those names but the rest of you feel free to identify yourself in the comments and take a bow if you want to. I won’t draw too much attention to the fact that at least two of these four contestants entered multiple brackets.

all times central to avoid the beatings

Friday, March 18 – Round of 64

8 Mississippi State Bulldogs (21-12) v 9 Baylor Bears (19-14)

11:15 am, CBS, Mississippi State -1.5, 144.5 O/U

Both teams rely on the offensive glass and can’t shoot threes. Chris Jans is looking for his first NCAA tournament win at Mississippi State while Scott Drew and Baylor haven’t lost an opening round game since 2018. This is a vibes game and I have no idea who will win it. Unlike the other 8/9 games, neither of these teams presents the slightest threat to their 1 seed in the next round.

MNW: This is one of those games that I’ll go “huh, it’s on?” and forget about the second the other ones start. Pretty representative, to be honest, of the new Power 4 control — congrats for making it and all, but I just can’t bring myself to care. At least pit them against a couple mid-majors, committee!

2 Alabama Crimson Tide (25-8) v 15 Robert Morris Colonials (26-8)

11:40 am, truTV, Alabama -22.5, 165.5 O/U

Alabama plays fast and shoots the ball well. Most of our major upsets come against slow paced teams playing in an effectively shortened game. That’s not at play here.

Robert Morris has won 10 games in a row, but they played just one top 100 team all year. The Colonials lost that game 59-87 at West Virginia and the Mountaineers didn’t even make the NCAA tournament plus their coach got hired by Indiana. How good could they be?

A quartet of Robert Morris shooters (Alvaro Folgueiras, Josh Omojafo, DJ Smith, and Ryan Prather) are going to have to get hot from behind the arc for the Colonials to have a chance in this one. RMU’s team wide three point shooting isn’t impressive thanks to far too many attempts by sub 30% shooters, but this foursome is all over 38%.

AlmaOtter: Important note in the vast world of “is this school I haven’t heard of hyper-religious and profiting from tax-exempt status?”: Robert Morris refers to the American Revolutionary War financier, who nearly singlehandedly funded our freedom from Great Britain. It does NOT refer to the Robert Morris who previously ran a mega-church and was just indicted for pretty unspeakable crimes.

MNW: I only knew about the Revolutionary War guy before today, and now you’ve really bummed me out, AO.

Bobby Mo’s coach, Andy Toole, has been in Moon Township for what feels like an eternity in college basketball—15 years. (He actually took over at age 29 from Mike Rice, if you’d like to Remember Some Psychopaths today.) This is his third time qualifying for the NCAA Tourney—lost 2020 due to some big event, I think—and is above .500 overall and in Horizon/NEC play. The AP did a nice little story on why he’s still there that’s worth a glance.

That said, probably Bama by like 20.

3 Iowa State Cyclones (24-9) v 14 Lipscomb Bisons (25-9)

12:30, TNT, Iowa State -14.5, 142.5 O/U

Iowa State lost 4 of their last 7 and are dealing with injuries to starters Keshon Gilbert and Tamin Lipsey. Gilbert is out for the season and Lipsey is questionable for Lipscomb. That’s a lot of minutes from what’s been essentially an 8 man rotation.

Lipscomb can shoot the ball, don’t turn it over, and aren’t afraid to let the three ball fly. The Bisons have four senior starters that aren’t ready to be done playing college ball.

MNW: When the Bisons shoot multiple threeses, all fives of thems will hustle back down the court. That’s just the way Bisons in packses runs.

5 Memphis Tigers (29-5) v 12 Colorado State Rams (25-9)

1, TBS, Colorado State -1.5, 146.5 O/U

Colorado State is favored? Makes sense I guess. They do have former Boilermaker Ethan Morton and his uhhh… 7.1% three point shooting on the season. The Rams have won 10 in a row. Nique Clifford is the name to know. The 6’6” win is a weapon. He scores, draws fouls, finds teammates, and rebounds.

Memphis has Dain Dainja! Dainja! isn’t even the best player on his team. That title belongs to PJ Haggerty who be an All-American on some SEC team next year. Haggerty’s back court mate Tyrese Hunter will not play.

AlmaOtter: WELCOME TO THE DAINJA ZONEEEEEEEE. That said, CSU and coach Medved look to pull the “upset.” Memphis is top 10% in the KenPom luck stat. That doesn’t mean an immediate regression is due, but CSU is the better squad.

MNW: But will Niko have a nice, warm hotdish on his mind? Be thinking about grabbing his selfie stick and going to see the Big Blue Cock? Getting lost imagining a stroll among brutalist concrete buildings and also a brushed steel abomination?

Nah, probably not. He’s a professional. But I bet you have questions now.

1 Duke Blue Devils (31-3) v 16 Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (23-12)

1:50, CBS, Duke -32.5, 140.5 O/U

AO: It’s a 1-16 matchup. You know what you’re getting here. Mount St. Mary’s dominated Patriot League champion American University at least partially because AU’s leading scorer injured his knee early on. Will we see a full-strength Cooper Flagg? It likely won’t matter. Good job good effort, this game will likely be one to ignore.

MNW: Is that just a picture of a Mount player in warmups, or was he really wearing a long-sleeve shirt and dunking in front of an empty arena?

7 Saint Mary’s Gaels (28-5) v 10 Vanderbilt Commodores (20-12)

2:15, truTV, Saint Mary’s -4.5, 135.5 O/U

Saint Mary’s spent most of the year crushing the WCC before losing by 7 to a pretty good Gonzaga team in the WCC championship. For anyone who saw Gonzaga’s dog fight with Georgia, Vanderbilt should be on blowout alert.

Vanderbilt is a disciplined team but they don’t have a super high ceiling. Maybe St. Mary’s slow pace let’s them stay in the game. Or perhaps the Gaels will shoot 0-16 from three like they did against Gonzaga.

MNW: Yeah, Saint Mary’s ran into a Zags team that, we discussed in the thread yesterday, is a very trendy Elite Eight-ish pick. There’d be not much shame for Vandy in losing to a good Gaels squad, except losing to fucking Bennettball—even an unrelated Bennettball!—is always embarrassing.

6 Mississippi Rebels (22-11) v 11 North Carolina Tar Heels (23-13)

3:05, TNT, UNC -1.5, 155.5 O/U

Mississippi and Chris Beard are dealing with the effects on not spending next season in Bloomington, Indiana. We will see if their hopes and dreams were crushed. Ole Miss isn’t really elite at anything other than not turning the ball over and causing a decent amount of turnovers with their defense. Somehow they still managed a 10-8 SEC record despite their poor shooting and abysmal defense.

UNC turned the tables on San Diego State in the First Four and sacrificed the Aztecs to the bloodthirsty Ohioans in Dayton. It was still just a quad 2 win for the Tarheels so I wouldn’t be ton them defeating Ole Miss considering that UNC went 1-12 against quad 1 opponents (this would be a quad 1 game if we still cared about quads at this point).

UNC is an above average shooting team and doesn’t turn the ball over. While I’m sure they are capable of defeating themselves, Ole Miss’s usual strategy of letting opponents throw the game away seems unlikely to work.

4 Maryland Terrapins (25-8) v 13 Grand Canyon Antelopes (26-7)

3:35, TBS, Maryland -10.5, 149.5

We probably talked enough about the turtles in the link below. And if not, well… their flag is ugly. Go crabs! Or turtles! Whatever they are going by.

Related

B1G Bracket Breakdown: Maryland Terrapins

MNW: It’s just comforting to know how much Grand Canyon is profiting off these students. Can’t wait to learn more from their informative ads about how I can complete a teaching degree online. Looking forward to them someday restoring their rivalry with an institution of similar rigor, National American University.

Enjoy the games everyone. Behave or the Coral auto mod will get ya.