et Page 2203 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Illinois: Now Part Of This Complete Breakfast
It baffles me as to how Illinois could have missed out on the NCAA Tournament, now that we know the existence of the Great Illinois-Shaped Corn Flake. A girl in Virginia noticed the flake it in her morning cereal and immediately recognized it as one of the 50 states, and then slapped it onto the e-B...

Um, It May Be Time To Eliminate That Play-In Game
On most tournament pool brackets it will be indicated as "play-in winner," a stirring tribute to a successful season if ever there was one. Presenting once again the play-in game, which has become the NCAA's little joke on the smaller Div. I schools. This year was especially awkward, as Coppin State...

NCAA Pants Party: Michigan State Vs. Temple
Michigan State Spartans (25-8) vs. Temple Owls (21-12) When: Thursday, 12:20 p.m. Where: Denver...

Bracket Breakdown: Midwest Region
We continue our look at each region. Here's the Midwest region. We're so glad they're calling it "Midwest" again, instead of "Detroit," though "Detroit" would make us think the White Stripes are gonna be there or something....

NCAA Pants Party: Kansas Vs. Portland State
Kansas Jayhawks (31-3) vs. Portland State Vikings (23-9) When: Thursday, 12:20 p.m. Where: Omaha...

NCAA Pants Party: Xavier Vs. Georgia
Xavier Musketeers (27-6) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (17-16) When: Thursday, 12:25 p.m. Where: Washington, D.C....

NCAA Pants Party: Mount St. Mary's Vs. Coppin State
Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (18-14) vs. Coppin State Eagles (16-20). When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Where: Dayton...

Bracket Breakdown: South Region
Later today, we'll begin rolling out our Tidbit previews of each team/first-round matchup, but to kick us off, we're looking at each region. Here's the South region. We're so glad they're calling it "South" again, instead of "Houston," because in the rest of the world, it's not pronounced "HOW-ston....

Bracket Breakdown: East Region
Later today, we'll begin rolling out our Tidbit previews of each team/first-round matchup, but to kick us off, we're gonna look at each region. Here's the East region. We're so glad they're calling it "East" again, instead of "Charlotte," though "Charlotte" is a quite lovely word....

The Brackets Have Been Out For Only 15 Hours, And Everyone's Already An Expert
The best part, to us, about Selection Sunday is how quickly the entirely unpredictable merges into the familiar. When the brackets are announced, every matchup seems deliciously random. Pittsburgh vs. Oral Roberts? Weird. But after about an hour of it sinking in, each matchup becomes fated to have ...

Georgetown Hoyas
1. How It Got Here. Founded in 1789 by John Carroll, Georgetown was part of a larger educational effort by the Pope's "Team America" approach to help educate young Catholics in post-Revolutionary War America. Carroll went out to start out other universities, including his namesake in Cleveland, Ohio...

The Brackets, They Be Out
The brackets are out. Make sure to join our Pants Party pool, and Download our Deadspin Printable Bracket. (PDF, of course.) And, after the jump, enjoy Storming The Floor's instant analysis. We'll be all over everything tomorrow. The tournament! Wee! (By the way, we're having a little trouble with ...

Marquette Golden Eagles
1. Stephon Marbury Is Displeased with Your Guru. Larry Brown's first piece of advice to Tom Crean: get three versatile guards to run a team. Dominic James (13.6 ppg, 4.3 assists/game), Jerel McNeal (13.5 ppg, 2.3 steals/game), and Wesley Matthews (11.2 ppg, 4.2 rebounds/game) can lead the team in sc...

Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers
1. Retriever Fever. Every March, we are presented with a mid-major that you can't help but root for. This year, that team is the UMBC Retrievers. You have the fantastic nickname of "Retrievers." Then, you have the hyphenated university name, which unfortunately sounds like a school that you find adv...

Massachusetts Minutemen
1. So THAT'S what she meant! While vacationing in Boston one summer, I met a lovely girl. After spending a week with her, she told me she loved the Minutemen. Unfortunately for me, I was the wrong kind of "minuteman." The University of Massachusetts mascot comes from the Revolutionary War era where ...

Believe In The Flying Bracketti Monster
Everyone has their Sharpie and blank bracket, right? Okay, good. I entrust you also have your empty NIT and CBI — yeah the new 16-team tournament — brackets as well. You'll get to squiggle the teams into those little lines soon enough....

Xavier Musketeers
1. Coaches Corner. Xavier has done an excellent job over the past 20+ years finding capable coaches that continue to advance the program to higher levels. From Pete Gillen to the late great Skip Prosser to Thad Matta to Sean Miller, each coach has brought his own style to Xavier and has been able to...

More NCAA Conference Tournament Doubleheaders, Please
While enough can't be said of Georgia's impressive and improbable doubleheader sweep of Kentucky and Mississippi State yesterday, the circumstances which forced them to play two games in one day were unfortunate. And now they're at a clear disadvantage against Arkansas in the SEC championship, which...

The Illini's Ridiculous, Plodding "Run"
Realize that we have seen our Illini do this before. In 1999, an 11th-seeded Illini team rode the hot hand of Cory Bradford to an amazing tourney championship game run, before collapsing, exhausted, to Michigan State (who eventually made the Final Four). That run was thrilling, breathtaking; it was...

It's TV or Nerd SimCity, Your Choice
One wonders if Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax was a big sports guy — we're gonna assume "no" until his estate can prove otherwise — but even he would admit there's a hell of a lot of actual worthwhile games today. The Rockets try to continue their winning streak against the Lakers. The SEC ch...