2023 NCAAM South Regional Thread (ɐɯɐqɐl∀, ɐuozᴉɹ∀, ɹolʎɐq, ɐᴉuᴉƃɹᴉΛ)

[duketaylor]

Two major upsets!!

[arnie]

For those of you Bilas haters, I believe Bilas picked Zona for this FF.

9F

The talking heads pick very poorly year in, year out.

[DukieInKansas]

Yup! If Zona loses it would wreck my bracket, but it's already burning. I'd love to see Princeton win. Princeton just needs to keep their heads and see if Zona panics.

9F

You got your wish!

[wilson]

Princeton with incredible poise the final 8 minutes. No panic, stayed the course, played hard, focused on defense. They are well coached.

That honestly characterizes their entire game. They trailed by double digits on multiple occasions and battled through anyway. Super impressive.

[BandAlum83]

Looks like Cinderella lives in the south!

Well sorta, but you know what I mean.

[rolm]

And the path opens wider for Alabama. #4, #2 gone.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Nope, it was Santa Clara with Steve Nash.

9F

Oh dang. You're right. ETSU was a 14-3 game.

[Luke102452]

Wow! This region busting open. The #2 and #4 seeds already gone.

[BandAlum83]

That honestly characterizes their entire game. They trailed by double digits on multiple occasions and battled through anyway. Super impressive.

Good to see you Wilson.

I just turned it on last 8 minutes, but super impressive indeed!

[heyman25]

Number 10 for Arizona showed no fire. Couldn’t catch the ball in the minutes I watched. Conference of Champions Bill Walton absolutely not

[Rich]

And anecdotally, I had an elderly gentleman in UVa attire actually grab me as I was walking into a restaurant in Washington DC

Was it Kihei Clark?

[BandAlum83]

The Princeton game shows how top seeds need to keep the foot on the gas. Gotta extend leads at all costs. Tourney teams will find a way if you give them openings!

Fair warning for Duke.

[kako]

One could argue Arizona now deserves a moniker of "Biggest Choking Team in the History of the Tourney". Syracuse used to carry that for years until Melo won it for them. Gonzaga kind of has it now, but I don't know if it's truly fair as the Zags continually punched above their weight for years. And Zona did win it all back in '97. But really - 2 losses as a #2 to the #15 seed? Is that bigger than 1 loss as a #1 seed to the #16? UVA won it the next year, so the choke moniker faded quickly. It could be recency bias, but UMBC plus UVA's subsequent losses still aren't as big to me as Zona's loss today.

I also like the fact that, yes, Duke lost as a #2 seed, but they only did it once. Zona now has more such losses.

9F

[rolm]

Hope all these upsets don't make our players play tight and nervous tonight. They need to trust their game and play focused, yet relaxed.

[KandG]

For those of you Bilas haters, I believe Bilas picked Zona for this FF.

9F

Lol, just realized that I did as well, probably because I was looking for someone to knock off Alabama because I couldn’t bear to pick them. Now my bracket is in flames, but I always do terribly anyway, the excitement today has been entertaining (please don’t let it extend to tonight’s 7:10 game involving a certain team).

Have to say, unlike the lower seeded team playing out of their minds or having an anomalous shooting display, thought Princeton was very solid and Arizona crumbled horribly managing a ten point lead. AZ’s guards made every bad decision possible (passing, shot selection, etc) the last five minutes.

[rolm]

One could argue Arizona now deserves a moniker of "Biggest Choking Team in the History of the Tourney". Syracuse used to carry that for years until Melo won it for them. Gonzaga kind of has it now, but I don't know if it's truly fair as the Zags continually punched above their weight for years. And Zona did win it all back in '97. But really - 2 losses as a #2 to the #15 seed? Is that bigger than 1 loss as a #1 seed to the #16? UVA won it the next year, so the choke moniker faded quickly. It could be recency bias, but UMBC plus UVA's subsequent losses still aren't as big to me as Zona's loss today.

I also like the fact that, yes, Duke lost as a #2 seed, but they only did it once. Zona now has more such losses.

9F

Is that really fair? Different coaches, different players, 20 years apart.

[kako]

One could argue Arizona now deserves a moniker of "Biggest Choking Team in the History of the Tourney". Syracuse used to carry that for years until Melo won it for them. Gonzaga kind of has it now, but I don't know if it's truly fair as the Zags continually punched above their weight for years. And Zona did win it all back in '97. But really - 2 losses as a #2 to the #15 seed? Is that bigger than 1 loss as a #1 seed to the #16? UVA won it the next year, so the choke moniker faded quickly. It could be recency bias, but UMBC plus UVA's subsequent losses still aren't as big to me as Zona's loss today.

I also like the fact that, yes, Duke lost as a #2 seed, but they only did it once. Zona now has more such losses.

9F

Oh, I might add: Back in 2005 in the Elite 8, Arizona was up 15 over Illinois with 4 minutes left. And lost.

9F

[kako]

Is that really fair? Different coaches, different players, 20 years apart.

No, it's certainly not fair. No such generalization is. However, school reputations are school reputations. And Zona gagged, again, big time.

9F

[curtis325]

For those of you Bilas haters, I believe Bilas picked Zona for this FF.

9F

Unfortunately, he also picked Duke. He can't be wrong twice, can he?

[brevity]

I believe if Zona loses, they would be in a select club. They would be the only school to lose TWICE as a #2 seed.

9F

This is correct.

1992: (14) ETSU 87, (3) Arizona 80
1993: (15) Santa Clara 64, (2) Arizona 61
1995: (12) Miami OH 71, (5) Arizona 62
1999: (13) Oklahoma 61, (4) Arizona 60
2016: (11) Wichita State 65, (6) Arizona 55
2018: (13) Buffalo 89, (4) Arizona 68
2023: (15) Princeton 59, (2)Arizona 55

To be fair, in 2009, Arizona was a 12 seed and made the Sweet 16.