2025 Billikens.com Bracket Contest

[SluSignGuy]

As people on this board seem to follow college basketball, Billikens.com will have its annual bracket contest.  We will use ESPN (link below)

https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=257&from=espn&context=GROUP_INVITE&edition=espn-en&groupId=db360e18-02bc-40fd-a1f6-a487c3a73cc7

Per tradition, the winner of the bracket contest will get a bonus of 6 daily reactions on Billikens.com.

[slu72]

14 SEC

8 B10 

7 B12

5 Beast

4 ACC 

38 spots taken by bigs. The handwriting’s on the wall. 

[slufanskip]

7 minutes ago, slu72 said:

14 SEC

8 B10 

7 B12

5 Beast

4 ACC 

38 spots taken by bigs. The handwriting’s on the wall. 

It’s a joke. Everyone knows I’m an OU fan and my family are Texas fanatics but neither of them deserve to be in. UNC may be the biggest joke. 
 

This isn’t meant to be a fair tournament, it’s meant to be a money making opportunity. I care less and less every year. 

[White Pelican]

29 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

It’s a joke. Everyone knows I’m an OU fan and my family are Texas fanatics but neither of them deserve to be in. UNC may be the biggest joke. 
 

This isn’t meant to be a fair tournament, it’s meant to be a money making opportunity. I care less and less every year. 

I feel the same but we'll watch it anyway and that's all they care about.

[billiken_roy]

i'll watch till all double digit seeds are out.   then i couldnt care less.   probably watch law and order reruns after that.   

[willie]

2 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

i'll watch till all double digit seeds are out.   then i couldnt care less.   probably watch law and order reruns after that.   

Big Bang Theory is more fun. 

[White Pelican]

This is  just kind of an idle thought, but as they've pretty much squeezed out the little guys, and if we now have 87.5% of an entire conference in it, they should just go back to 16 or 32 teams. That's if they're really just trying to find the best team in the country. And not just making a bunch of money. But that ship has sailed.

[slufanskip]

28 minutes ago, willie said:

Big Bang Theory is more fun. 

I’m with Roy. Law and Order is a top 10 all time show for me, but only the main series. No Criminal Intent or SVU. 

[HoosierPal]

1 hour ago, billiken_roy said:

i'll watch till all double digit seeds are out.   then i couldnt care less.   probably watch law and order reruns after that.   

Try Homicide reruns on Peacock. One of the best detective shows ever. 

[thetorch]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Try Homicide reruns on Peacock. One of the best detective shows ever. 

Unblocking you after this post.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

Try Homicide reruns on Peacock. One of the best detective shows ever. 

Fouking A, it's a fantastic show. RIP Andre Braugher.

[slu72]

11 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

i'll watch till all double digit seeds are out.   then i couldnt care less.   probably watch law and order reruns after that.   

I’ve rediscovered Cheers. 

[SluSignGuy]

38 minutes ago, slu72 said:

I’ve rediscovered Cheers. 

Don't forget about Frasier.

[WVBilliken]

I used to love the NCAA's for the Mid-Majors' upsets and their chance to be on a big stage. The Power Conferences have rigged the system and squeezed the out good Mid-Majors. It's not good for the game or the viewership to have 11, 12 & 13 loss Power Conference teams in instead of 25 win Mid-Majors!@#!

[Dr Bird]

Arkansas State had an impressive year:

- Tied for 1st in Sunbelt at 13-5

- Lost a close game at Alabama (9 points)

- Won at Memphis and UAB

- 10 losses, but 6 losses were by 5 points or less

[billiken_roy]

1 hour ago, WVBilliken said:

I used to love the NCAA's for the Mid-Majors' upsets and their chance to be on a big stage. The Power Conferences have rigged the system and squeezed the out good Mid-Majors. It's not good for the game or the viewership to have 11, 12 & 13 loss Power Conference teams in instead of 25 win Mid-Majors!@#!

it is like the ncaa is stupid or something.   i cant believe they dont see how the college basketball fandom loves the upset opportunities.   they dont want to see the 12th place team in the sec.   so stupid.   i have literally no interest in watching the ncaa tourney.  i only play the pools for the fun of gambling on some stupid longshots.   

[Minerva N. Owl]

15 hours ago, slufanskip said:

 I’m an OU fan and my family are Texas fanatics but neither of them deserve to be in.

This isn’t meant to be a fair tournament, it’s meant to be a money making opportunity. I care less and less every year. 

Proposal: Make it a requirement that at large bid teams must have a winning record in conference. Rationale: Teams that know how to win in conference learn how to win on the road and in difficult environments. That's why those teams often knock off middle of the pack big boys (who mostly win only at home in conference). It's really hard to win away from home in a hostile environment. Six of the SEC teams that got at large bids this year are losers in conference. A common sense policy could fix that: to get an at large bid a team must have a winning record in conference. That policy would have opened up at least six spots this year.

 

[almaman]

winewinewinewine

I'm ready to dance as with everything not perfect but is a very enjoyable event. great coverage, upsets et al

[Minerva N. Owl]

6 minutes ago, almaman said:

winewinewinewine ... upsets et al

 

Not whining. Everyone agrees that part of what's fun about the NCAA tournament is the upsets. Part of the reasons there have been upsets is that teams that know how to win in conference are able to win in the tournament. Take Loyola when they were in the Valley.  The prayers of Sr. Jean might have helped, but Loyola's conference experience taught them how to win. Now that Porter M is in Oklahoma, he's making big money, but they're not winning in conference. They were 6-12 in conference this year. I hear the committee counter my point: the Sooners had 7 Quad 1 wins. My response? They had 11 Quad 1 losses. And it's as bad or worse for worse for Texas, Miss St, Vandy, Georgia, Ark. Against Quad 1 teams, those six all have seriously losing records. Arkansas has 4 Quad 1 victories, so they should get in, right? To agree, you have to ignore Ark's 11 Quad 1 losses. How does it make sense to invite at large teams with losing conference records, especially when they've shown they are consistently losers against Quad 1 teams?   I'm proposing a common sense policy: to get an at large bid, a team must have a winning record in conference. The current system rewards losers. Literally. The NET system and the emphasis on Quad 1 victories produces this result. Why is it good to have a tournament full of losers? It's a simple proposal: to get an at large bid, a team must have a winning record in conference. That's the drum the "mid-majors" should be banging.  Change the selection policy: no at large bids to teams with losing records in conference. Until recently, the practice has been that March Madness has been for winners, not losers. 

[Cowboy]

2 hours ago, Minerva N. Owl said:

Not whining. Everyone agrees that part of what's fun about the NCAA tournament is the upsets. Part of the reasons there have been upsets is that teams that know how to win in conference are able to win in the tournament. Take Loyola when they were in the Valley.  The prayers of Sr. Jean might have helped, but Loyola's conference experience taught them how to win. Now that Porter M is in Oklahoma, he's making big money, but they're not winning in conference. They were 6-12 in conference this year. I hear the committee counter my point: the Sooners had 7 Quad 1 wins. My response? They had 11 Quad 1 losses. And it's as bad or worse for worse for Texas, Miss St, Vandy, Georgia, Ark. Against Quad 1 teams, those six all have seriously losing records. Arkansas has 4 Quad 1 victories, so they should get in, right? To agree, you have to ignore Ark's 11 Quad 1 losses. How does it make sense to invite at large teams with losing conference records, especially when they've shown they are consistently losers against Quad 1 teams?   I'm proposing a common sense policy: to get an at large bid, a team must have a winning record in conference. The current system rewards losers. Literally. The NET system and the emphasis on Quad 1 victories produces this result. Why is it good to have a tournament full of losers? It's a simple proposal: to get an at large bid, a team must have a winning record in conference. That's the drum the "mid-majors" should be banging.  Change the selection policy: no at large bids to teams with losing records in conference. Until recently, the practice has been that March Madness has been for winners, not losers. 

-no, the big schools don't think that way

[Dr. Holly Hills]

4 hours ago, Minerva N. Owl said:

Proposal: Make it a requirement that at large bid teams must have a winning record in conference. Rationale: Teams that know how to win in conference learn how to win on the road and in difficult environments. That's why those teams often knock off middle of the pack big boys (who mostly win only at home in conference). It's really hard to win away from home in a hostile environment. Six of the SEC teams that got at large bids this year are losers in conference. A common sense policy could fix that: to get an at large bid a team must have a winning record in conference. That policy would have opened up at least six spots this year.

 

Wow… that’s terrible.  This is why I have zero faith that the NCAA will figure out the whole NIL and transfer portal state of affairs.  Inept boobs that really just care about making money.

[slufanskip]

On 3/17/2025 at 7:37 AM, SluSignGuy said:

Don't forget about Frasier.

Best sitcom of all time. Wanted to live the new one, but nope

[BigMacSLU88]

16 hours ago, slufanskip said:

Best sitcom of all time. Wanted to live the new one, but nope

Much less cerebral than Frasier, but It's Always Sunny was a pretty good one!

[BLIKNS]

I would stay away from the Rum Ham

[TheA_Bomb]

On 3/17/2025 at 10:20 AM, Minerva N. Owl said:

Proposal: Make it a requirement that at large bid teams must have a winning record in conference. Rationale: Teams that know how to win in conference learn how to win on the road and in difficult environments. That's why those teams often knock off middle of the pack big boys (who mostly win only at home in conference). It's really hard to win away from home in a hostile environment. Six of the SEC teams that got at large bids this year are losers in conference. A common sense policy could fix that: to get an at large bid a team must have a winning record in conference. That policy would have opened up at least six spots this year.

 

Every single one of those teams would've dominated the A10. No way to prove it but that's my opinion. 

SEC was all time great top to bottom this year. 

26 auto bids are given to teams outside the Top 5 Power BB Conferences. That's 38% of the bids. 7 of the 12 committee members are from "Mid-majors". So that's 26 chances for a Cinderella if that's your thing. 

The A10 is objectively bad. SLU needs to get to the top 2 to get into the real tournament. 

We need to find a way to schedule better and then here's the key, win.