Conquer Madness!!! (winners in OP)

[jytreberg]

Hey Conquer Madness players. My bracket has been updated following the weekend's action. Here's a quick recap!

• Even though they already secured a spot in round 2, #4 South Carolina continued their dominance over #13 Pitt. with two more wins, looking to complete the sweep of all nine games.
• #5 Kentucky notched another win over #12 Kansas, bring them one win away from advancing to the second round to face South Carolina.
• #6 Duke and #11 Grand Valley State split the two games they finished over the weekend, leaving that match up tied 1-1
• #7 Michigan State took a commanding 3-1 lead over #10 UNLV with another win over the weekend.
• #1 Ohio State answered back to #16 TCU's early win by winning the remaining three games on TCU's home turf, taking a 3-1 lead in that match-up

[Elaterate]

Hey Conquer Madness players. My bracket has been updated following the weekend's action. Here's a quick recap!

• Even though they already secured a spot in round 2, #4 South Carolina continued their dominance over #13 Pitt. with two more wins, looking to complete the sweep of all nine games.
• #5 Kentucky notched another win over #12 Kansas, bring them one win away from advancing to the second round to face South Carolina.
• #6 Duke and #11 Grand Valley State split the two games they finished over the weekend, leaving that match up tied 1-1
• #7 Michigan State took a commanding 3-1 lead over #10 UNLV with another win over the weekend.
• #1 Ohio State answered back to #16 TCU's early win by winning the remaining three games on TCU's home turf, taking a 3-1 lead in that match-up

Conquer_Madness_Bracket_20190805.png

LOVE IT!!!

[All Black Rugby]

LOVE IT!!!

I second that. Great visual and commentary, thanks!

[jytreberg]

Four more games in the books yesterday and a few other match-ups are making progress:

• #4 South Carolina racked up their 8th win over #13 Pitt.
• #3 Oregon landed their third victory in the series over #14 Northern Illinois, taking a commanding 3-0 lead
• #10 UNLV took a second game over #7 Michigan State but still has ground to make up as Michigan State holds a 3-2 lead
• #8 Princeton won their first game over #9 Illinois giving them a 1-0 series lead.

[elddir]

Nice!!! thx for the updates!

[jytreberg]

Six games completed yesterday in four different match-ups. Here's the daily update:

• #6 Duke took a 2-1 lead over #11 Grand Valley State with another win
• #2 Maryland took a commanding 4-2 lead over #15 Notre Dame with two more wins, needing only one more win to advance to the second round and face the winner of #7 Michigan State/#10 UNLV
• #9 Illinois answered back against #8 Princeton with two wins, taking a 2-1 lead in that match-up
• #1 Ohio State continued their dominance over #16 TCU with another win, taking a 4-1 lead and only needing one more win to advance to round 2

I would expect there to be much more clarity around the round 2 match-ups by the end of the week.

August 7th Bracket

[misteryforall]

Enter every day to see updates and I am so happy when i see them...good work...keep on it...updates give some life in tour also...

[jytreberg]

Not much activity in terms of games wrapping up yesterday (only one) but looking through the games there is definitely some getting close to finishing as players are knocked out of games. Still anticipating at least one second round match-up being finalized before the weekend.

Here are your headlines for the day:

• #7 Michigan State tallied another win against #10 UNLV, taking a commanding 4-2 lead
• This puts four teams one win away from advancing, Michigan State, #1 Ohio State, #2 Maryland, and #5 Kentucky
• All of those teams have at least a two game lead in their opponent
• One final note, as of the current standings, all higher seeds are leading their match-ups with the exception of #9 Illinois over #8 Princeton

August 8th Bracket

[jytreberg]

Good morning everyone and welcome to Conquer Madness Center. I'm your host jytreberg and here are your Conquer Madness headlines for Friday August 9th, 2019.

• #4 South Carolina completed their sweep of #13 Pitt with their ninth win in their series
• #3 Oregon has a stranglehold on their match-up with #14 Northern Illinois, taking a 4-0 lead
• #10 UNLV is keeping things interesting against #7 Michigan State with another win, though Michigan State still leads 4-3
• #8 Princeton notched another win over #9 Illinois, bringing that series back to a tie (2-2)

Have a great weekend everyone and happy fighting.

August 9th Bracket

[jytreberg]

Happy Monday everyone. Since last Friday's update, there have been two additional teams winning their 5th game and moving on to round two! Check out the highlights below and the full updated bracket at the bottom of the post.

• #5 Kentucky finally put away #12 Kansas with their 5th win
• #3 Oregon logged wins 5 and 6 in their match-up with #14 Northern Illinois, securing the Huskies' exit from the tournament
• #6 Duke won another game, stretching their lead over #11 Grand Valley State to 3-1

August 12th Bracket

[jytreberg]

Four more games finished on Monday so here are your highlights:

• #8 Princeton pulled ahead of #9 Illinois with another win, bringing the score to 3-2
• #16 TCU is not going down without a fight, taking two more wins against #1 Ohio State, but Ohio State is still in the lead 4-3
• Even though #3 Oregon has already advanced to the next round, they are looking to complete the sweep of #14 Northern Illinois by taking a 7-0 lead in that match-up

There are only 20 games remaining in this round and only 16 of them have any impact on who moves on to round 2!

August 13th Bracket

[jytreberg]

HUMP DAY!

Two games completed yesterday, but one was a biggie!

• #2 Maryland took their fifth game from #15 Notre Dame, kicking the Irish out of the tournament and moving on to the next round
• #8 Princeton has taken a commanding 4-2 lead over #9 Illinois in their match-up, needing only one more win to move on

August 14th Bracket

[jytreberg]

This will be the last update of the week from me (I'm off work tomorrow heading to the amusement park with the kiddos) but it's another big one. Here are your headlines:

• #2 Maryland notched another win, taking a 6-2 lead over #15 Notre Dame even though they already secured their birth in the second round
• #1 Ohio State had enough of #16 TCU's fight, finally putting them away with their fifth win
• #8 Princeton secured their advancement to round 2 with another win over #9 Illinois

This means that the entire left side of the bracket (my style) is set with #1 Ohio State facing off against #8 Princeton and #4 South Carolina facing off against #5 Kentucky in the second round. #2 Maryland and #3 Oregon still await their next opponents but our higher seeds (#6 Duke and #7 Michigan State) both hold leads at the moment. Both Duke and Michigan State look like they are in control of enough games to win those matches, which would mean an entirely chalk bracket through the first round!

Have a great weekend everyone and I will update next week with what is likely the final round 1 bracket update.

August 15th Bracket

[Dukasaur]

This will be the last update of the week from me (I'm off work tomorrow heading to the amusement park with the kiddos) but it's another big one. Here are your headlines:

• #2 Maryland notched another win, taking a 6-2 lead over #15 Notre Dame even though they already secured their birth in the second round
• #1 Ohio State had enough of #16 TCU's fight, finally putting them away with their fifth win
• #8 Princeton secured their advancement to round 2 with another win over #9 Illinois

This means that the entire left side of the bracket (my style) is set with #1 Ohio State facing off against #8 Princeton and #4 South Carolina facing off against #5 Kentucky in the second round. #2 Maryland and #3 Oregon still await their next opponents but our higher seeds (#6 Duke and #7 Michigan State) both hold leads at the moment. Both Duke and Michigan State look like they are in control of enough games to win those matches, which would mean an entirely chalk bracket through the first round!

Have a great weekend everyone and I will update next week with what is likely the final round 1 bracket update.

Conquer_Madness_Bracket_20190815.png

Any chance for a progress report in Great War before you leave?

[Elaterate]

I've been streaming all the games live and watching them intently so I can give you all a good write up so here goes...

S. Carolina Vs. Pitt:

Playing its 9th game in 15 days, South Carolina coach shoop76 didn't have high expectations for his team.

However, the 4th-seeded Gamecocks showed no signs of fatigue Saturday night as Enormastitz had 26 points and seven assists in an 97-63 triumph over Pitt. in the Conquer Madness!!! Playoffs.

Pitt struggled against the Gamecocks defense that forced 13 turnovers and shut off the middle early. The Gamecocks were up 12-6 in the first half when a flurry of 3s quickly doubled their lead. Tin Trumpet hit two 3-pointers and GeneralTaken had added two more as South Carolina went up 24-11 early in the game.

"The first thing I wrote on the board was focus, effort, enthusiasm," Coach shoop76 said. "After all this travel and all these games, I did not anticipate this. I was just hoping we could gut out a win. This really surprised me."

Tin Trumpet had 13 points while akabob2 had a strong performance coming off the bench gathering 8 points and 11 rebounds for the Gamecocks, who will get a short break while awaiting their opponent for the next round.

Reserve forward Shoe555 tied a career-high with 16 points to lead Pitt. Thor60 added 12 for the Panthers, which shot just 32 percent from the field, including 24 percent in the first half.

The strong shooting continued into the second half for South Carolina with Enormastitz directing the offense with pinpoint efficiency. The
Gamecocks, who are holding opponents to under 65 points per game, led by as many as 41.

South Carolina will be facing the Kentucky Wildcats in the next round who are coming off an impressive win against Kansas.



More write-ups to come!!!

[Elaterate]

Ohio St. Vs. TCU

Ohio St. leading scorer emilywink has struggled from the field in the second half of this season, including a recent two-game stretch when she only made 7 of 40 shots.

emilywink has returned to form in the past two games in a big way. The junior guard set the tone Saturday by scoring 35 points on 11-of-16 shooting, helping the #1 seeded Buckeyes beat the TCU Horned Frogs 86-72 to advance to the second round of the Conquer Madness!!! Playoffs.

"I took what the defense gave me and my shots kept falling," said Emilywink, who hit half of her eight 3-point attempts. "I just wanted to come out aggressive while also staying patient and wait for my opportunities to come. I got some good passes from my teammates with the screens they set for me."

davekettering added 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals for the Buckeyes. Senior starters Astoriana and MTIceman41 each scored eight points while Astoriana dominated the paint grabbing 18 rebounds.

"It was probably one of the better games we played all year," Coach All Black Rugby said.

emilywink scored 19 of her points in the first half to help the Buckeyes to a 39-29 halftime lead.

"We knocked down some shots, we played good defense," All Black Rugby said of the first half. "We did a good job of executing."

Tokle led TCU with 16 points, 9 redbounds, and 7 assists. A unanimous All-American last year, Ragian was held scoreless after netting 27 points in his previous game but he still played tough and logged 27min despite breaking his ring-finger during shoot-around.

Ohio St. sank 55.9 percent of its shots. The Horned Frogs hit just 33.3 percent. The Buckeyes also made 10 3-pointers compared to just three for TCU.

Ohio St. will face Princeton in Round 2 after the Tigers survived a scare against Illinois in the first Round.

[Elaterate]

Oregon Vs. Northern Illinois

Oregon basketball coach Elaterate believes freshman forward misteryforall has both talent and instincts but says "He just needs to be more consistent." Adding "When he's on, he's a handful."

misteryforall gave a glimpse of what he can do when he's consistent. He scored 33 points on 10-of-15 shooting and #3 seeded Oregon rallied late to put away the #14 seed Northern Illinois 92-77 on Sunday night.

Overall, the Ducks played their best game of the season, Elaterate said even though Oregon had to use a 14-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into a ten-point lead with 1:31 left. Northern Illinois was scoreless for 3:44 during that span and only scoring 3 points in the last minute and a half.

Kaiser Szami scored 16 points and caymanmew added 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals for the Ducks, who were playing one of their toughest match-ups so far this year that they compared to an opponent they faced earlier in the season.

Oregon's forward caymanmew told us "We lost to Purdue by 1 in the non-conference earlier this year and the two teams play the same style, so we were prepared and confident we could come away with the win."

Northern Illinois biggest lead was 9 with Senior Johnny Dickshot leading the way for the Huskies tying his career high with 28 points. Junior point guard fc1966 had a strong performance like usual tallying 22 points for the Huskies. Northen Illinois fell to 1-9 all-time in the Conquer Madness!!! Playoffs. Their lone victory coming back in 1993 when they upset Georgetown in the first round.

"Obviously, we need more balance with our scoring," Northern Illinois coach Keefie said. "We didn't shoot the ball particularly well near the end of the game and obviously that cost us the game."

All-American center ZaBeast, finishing with 22 points and 17 rebounds, made two free throws for a 78-74 Oregon lead with 2:17 remaining that ended up being the only points Oregon needed to seal the victory. Kaiser Szami finished Oregon's 14-0 run when he hit a three-pointer over two defenders with 1:31 to play.

Oregon shot 44 percent from the field to Northern Illinois' 37 percent. The Ducks also scored 40 points in the paint to the Huskie's 22.

Oregon will face the winner of the Duke Vs. Grand Valley St. game.

[misteryforall]

Perfect....who is ur inspiration for this nice words

[Elaterate]

Princeton Vs. Illinois

Ukey had a career-high 35 points plus 15 rebounds as Princeton prevailed in their Round 1 match against The Fighting Illini of Illinois by a final margin of 84-70 on Sunday night.

Ukey made 5 of 7 3-pointers while also blocking 5 shots. Point-guard iAmCaffeine did his normal double-double routine by tallying 15 points along with 12 assists for Princeton of the Ivy League, while freshman phenom Zidane - 21 contributed to the Tigers win pulling down 17 rebounds.

Senior Bobby4254 had 17 points for Illinois, whose eleven-game win streak and season came to end. Junior forward eric111213 added 15 points. Freshman worldconquer and Prince_Tottenham finishing the game with 6 points apiece.

Senior uckuki, whose 26 points per game average coming into the matchup led the Tigers, scored just 7 points on 2-of-10 shooting. It was uckuki's first game back since breaking his leg on July 12th.

After the game the uckuki told us "I wasn't 100% but I gave 110% effort out there today, my shots just didn't fall. Luckily I have amazing teammates that are more then willing to pick up the slack and they did in a huge way today."

Princeton Coach Robespierre__ said "I couldn't be more proud of my team. They were focused and determined to make a statement and I believe they did. We need to keep that momentum and that drive in our system for the entire tournament"

Princeton will play Ohio St. in the next round after the Buckeyes had an impressive win over TCU.

[Elaterate]

Kentucky Vs. Kansas

This one, like most games in the past between these two teams, was a blood bath. This game was closer then the Final score of 83-76 might tell you.

Kentucky built an advantage through the opening minutes, with freshman duo JPlo64 and MudPuppy each knocking down a series of outside shots. Kentucky pushed the lead to 29-17 with 2:23 to go on a 3-pointer by madmom, but Kansas answered with seven straight points to end the half cutting the Wildcats lead to just 5.

The No. 13 seed then struggled to hit from the perimeter against Kentucky's tall lineup, going 5 of 21 from 3-point range overall in the game. Senior big man sportsgod24 was just 3 of 9 from the field, as was senior guard TDJ-D.

Kansas was in trouble even before its game began.

Sophomore walk-on J1mathman, who played only 38 minutes all season, earned a technical foul for a pregame dunk. NCAA rules prohibit dunking with less than 20 minutes until tip, and J1mathman's dunk came with 17:14 showing on the clock.

Junior guard Denise made both free throws while fans from both schools showered the officials with boos, and Kentucky led 2-0 before the game even started.

All-Big 12 first team forward madmom had 29 points and 16 rebounds, Denise finished with 18 points, and Kentucky held on to beat Kansas 83-76 on Saturday night. The reward is a coveted date with the #4 seed South Carolina.

The preseason No. 1, Kentucky is finally starting to live up to the expectations that came with its heralded recruiting class. Coach groovysmurf's bunch nearly knocked of Florida in the SEC title game last week and seemed to carry that momentum right into the Conquer Madness!!! Playoffs.

Now, the question is whether it will continue against South Carolina this weekend.

Kansas Coach Domination_44's team trimmed the lead to 35-33, only for Kentucky to regain control when JPlo64 hit back to back 3's with 16:33 left on the clock. Kentucky stretched its lead to 54-42 midway through the second half, and whenever the Jayhawks threatened to get closer, madmom was there to answer the call.

The bruising forward stuck back a miss to make it 67-63 with 8:02 remaining, converted a three-point play a few minutes later, and then scored again at the rim for a 74-70 advantage.

Kansas closed the gap at 74-73 with a dagger of a 3 by D3A7H with 1:42 left on the clock but a steal and back to back off-balance 3-pointers by JPlo64, who finished with 19 points, sealed Kansas' fate.

The #5 seed Kentucky will face the #4 seed South Carolina this coming weekend in the 2nd Round of the Conquer Madness!!! Playoffs.

[Elaterate]

Maryland Vs. Notre Dame

#2 seeded Maryland used a dominate second half performance to beat the #15 seed Notre Dame on Monday night by a final score of 94-82. Tired and fatigued after winning the ACC Tournament just a couple of nights ago Maryland got what it was looking for against a weary Fighting Irish squad who was coming off a brutal last second loss in their conference championship.

"Great win for us," Maryland coach itake said. "We did a lot of bad things to hurt ourselves tonight but we also did a lot of great things that helped us overcome our mistakes. We shared the ball, we're getting better. We were mentally tough tonight, especially in the second half."

Junior big man mdhill scored 19 points, all in the paint, while grabbing an astonishing 24 rebounds. Sophomore guard bariclaw had a career-high 14 assists and the Terrapins used a strong second half to notch a 94-82 victory Monday night.

Senior guard craigv delivered 16 of his game high 26 points during an impressive 24-5 run to open the second half that gave the Terrapins a 68-54 lead against the Fighting Irish after trailing 44-49 at halftime. Notre Dame could not summon the energy to make a comeback.

Coming off an agonizing defeat in their Conference Championship game in which Notre Dame blew a 15-point halftime lead, the Fighting Irish looked poised to give the Terrapins a run for their money until the second half started where Maryland shot a sizzling 68 percent in the second half and led by as many as 19 points.

Notre Dame's Senior point-guard Lord Arioch did his part by distributing the ball, finishing with 13 assists, and scoring all 15 of his points over the final 12 minutes, one of three starters for the Irish to finish in double figures, but it wasn't enough to save his teams season.

"They all played well but those two sophomore's they have in that line-up will cause any coach a headache ," Notre Dame coach Will Lee said after the game referring to bariclaw and forward elddir who finished just short of a triple double with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 blocks.

Junior forward and 2nd team All-American celliottii ended the game with 19 points and 14 rebounds for Notre Dame, his nation-leading 21st double-double of the season.

"At the end of the day we didn't play hard enough to beat this team," Notre Dame's center knowman said.


Maryland will play the winner of the Michigan St. Vs. UNLV game. That game can be seen over on our sister network CC3. Stay tuned for more highlights and coverage from around the Conquer Madness!!! Playoffs

[emilywink]

hahahaha this is hilarious

[Ukey]

Brilliant stuff throughout, Elaterate. This is a real gem:

"Maryland will play the winner of the Michigan St. Vs. UNLV game. That game can be seen over on our sister network CC3."

[itake]

Ha! Well done.

[elddir]

looooooooool. great stuff!