And so the madness has begun........

[NomaBlueCollar]

Have we forgotten Will Patton already?

ahh very true...also SB's current FOGO, Takeshita (spelling?) has been doing very well this year also, at least in the few games ive read about on here

[ME]

I was at PHP all day today and just some thoughts from the entire day:

- NE blew out Michgan but they still didn't look as good as the score says, I imagine they will take UCSB tomorrow but not by that much....
- UMD is legit Noma not as legit as past Noma teams.
- SELC still way overrated. Flordia played a good game against CSU today but both Flordia and Georgia came out and learned what playing with the big boys during tourney time is really like.
- Lindenwood looked better than I thought they would be even though they loss I think they are soild and deserve some credit.

.

I was hoping you could expand upon some of your observations. For those of us at home just looking at the scores, I didn't get this same feeling that teams were overranked or not legit or better than they should be -

Matchup Point Diff (+ for higher seed winning)

#1 v #16............+7
#2 v #15............+7
#3 v #14............+3
#4 v #13............-11
#5 v #12............+5
#6 v #11............+3
#7 v #10............-1
#8 v #9..............-1

Except for the #4 v #13 game, this trend looks like teams were ranked appropriately. But then again, I don't have the benefit of being at the games. Could you be more specific on why you think teams looked good or bad (i.e. ball handling, aggressiveness, speed, etc).

Sure, all i was trying to say about NE is their blow out score to Michigan looked a lot better than I thought they really were. They play fast paced compared to Michigan and they had a lot of trouble clearing the ball especially in the first half. So while a lot of people see they blew out Michigan and are thinking they are going to breeze by this tournament that is in fact false. They are good but that +11 win is deceptive. As for the SELC teams I think they are both very talented on the rise and the both hung with the bigger conference teams (RMLC/WCLL) for a quarter or two but they learned how aggressive and quickly dominating those teams become throughout the game when the game is on the line such as in the playoffs. Finally, about my UMD, Noma and Lindenwood comment. There has been alot of controversy of where they should be put in the polls and I was jsut stating that the claims UMD should be Top 6 is fairly accurate, Lindenwood deserves mroe credit in the polls even I didn't think they were that good until I saw them play and this years Noma team just didn't look the same as it has in the past. Getting ready for Day 2 should be a good one.

[chillywilly3]

Final Four - Oregon, BC, UCSB, ASU

Dtrain, I know you ate your hat with the BC thing but do you really think they are going to beat BYU?
sohotrightnow lost his mind the day he popped out.

[MandibleS4L]

chillbert-
let us not forget that the hat Mr. Dewan has to eat is quite large. Quite. Large.
But is a BC, OR, ASU, UCSB FF that far off from reality? I had never thought that UMD would be Sonoma, nor BC an AZ.
Things will most likely correct themselves today-
BYU, OR, UCSB and CSU in the FF. Such wonderful fairytales only go so far- witness the Warriors losing to the Utah Tabernacle Choir (seriously, where the F--- is there Jazz in Utah?)

[sohotrightnow]

Chillywilly, always a pleasure to hear from you.

[dtrain34]

I still like the kid earlier telling me not to get a "big head," not realizing the inside joke, that your article was referring to the actual enormous cranium that sits a top my disproportioned body.

Chilly and Mandible in the same setting............someone get a short rope please.

hmmmmmmm, "IHMD" hahahahah I wonder what that stands for.....

sohotrightnow, with today's victory over Sonoma, Lindenwood is on track for another great quote, "If not for the first round we would be national champions every year."

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

sohotrightnow, with today's victory over Sonoma, Lindenwood is on track for another great quote, "If not for the first round we would be national champions every year."

He used that one for UMD last year. Hes gotta come up with something fresh.

[dtrain34]

No, no my goalie friend.

Someone said that to him. I thought it was from Lindenwood, but maybe it was UMD.

[UofMLaxGoalie11]

Perhaps you are right, but I distinctly remember him having UMD's logo as his avatar when that was his signature. So I may have just assumed he was referring to UMD.

[chillywilly3]

I'm going out on a limb here and say the final four will be BYU, Northeastern Cstate and Oregon. The tourney is all about going on a run (Florida State a couple of years ago) and after a huge win Northeastern might pull it off. But they don't make it to the finals. And I won't promise to eat anything from Dtrains massive cranium if I'm wrong. Oregon reminds me of the 2001 Cal team....they might have too much talent for their own good

[Laxbum]

Hey Oakly or anyone else that is there,


Can you tell if the teams are taking the consolation games seriously? Based on the scoring summary for UGA so far, they're playing their starters. Can you tell if this is the case with the other teams?

[sohotrightnow]

He used that one for UMD last year. Hes gotta come up with something fresh.

Don't worry. My material will never run out. Yes, UMD and FSU have already received enough abuse. Time for a new team.

Can you tell if the teams are taking the consolation games seriously? Based on the scoring summary for UGA so far, they're playing their starters. Can you tell if this is the case with the other teams?

Well, some people tell you that "you play to win the game," but I don't think that applies to this tournament. Different teams approach this tournament in different ways. Some want to win, some want to let everybody on their team a chance to play. Neither is the wrong approach, I just think it is misguided to think that because you beat a team the day after their season was officially ended you have the right to claim that your team is much better.

[Sonny]

Hey Oakly or anyone else that is there,


Can you tell if the teams are taking the consolation games seriously? Based on the scoring summary for UGA so far, they're playing their starters. Can you tell if this is the case with the other teams?

Sonoma didn't play their normal starters. Backup Goalie played all game long.

[Laxbum]

Thanks for that info Sonny.

UGA is def playing their starters (based on the scoring and penalty box). Just curious if Michigan is playing their starters or not.

I am not trying to prove that one team is much better than another in the consolation round, but I would just like to know if UGA matches up well with some of the other teams out there. I think that can only be proven if both teams are playing to win with their starting personel.

UGA may not be playing their starting goalie. Can anyone tell me if #5 (Matt Smith) is in the cage for UGA?

[LaxZac02]

Such wonderful fairytales only go so far- witness the Warriors losing to the Utah Tabernacle Choir (seriously, where the F--- is there Jazz in Utah?)

I think if you are doubting teams like BC and Northeastern you my friend are living in the fairy tail.