Chisoxfn

On the Soxtalk Podcast I said that for this team to succeed and for the pen to be better than expected, everyone will have to stay healthy, but most importantly Bmac will have to assert himself in as the setup man along with Cotts. I think he's capable, but Politte wasn't as strong in the 2nd half and Hermy has to prove to me he's healthy. If Hermy's healthy he won't be as good as he was last season, but he'll be solid. This team is still one arm short to open spring and it will need another arm around the deadline.

Despite the low seed, Ill is in one of the easier brackets. Only thing is they have the best team in the country as the #1 (despite there loss to Cuse).

1 game at a time, but I'm shocked we didn't play ourselves into the Minny regional. But all that matters right now is Northwestern State.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 03:39 PM) #1 Villanova #16 Monmouth/Hampton play in winner #8 Arizona #9 Wisconsin #5 Nevada (huh? Nevada AND Washington 5's?) #12 Montana #4 Boston College #13 Pacific #2 Ohio State (no surprise) #15 Davidson #7 Georgetown #10 Northern Iowa #3 Florida #14 South Alabama #6 Oklahoma #11 UW-Milwaukee More upset potential in this thread...#11, #13, #10 that 8 vs. 9 matchup is great. Interesting.......to me, this region seems pretty meh. Iowa should have been the 3 in this bracket, but I agree this is a much more normal bracket. I also think its the easiest one cause all the brackets screw jobs left some pretty good teams seeded too low, imo.

QUOTE(SnB @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 04:15 PM) I'm going to go on a record and say I have an awful record in this year's tourney. Usually i finish top 5 every pool, but this year, I have no clue what the f*** is going to happen in way too many scenarios. Oh yeah, to stay on topic ILLINOIS AS A 4 SEED IS BULLs***. But we are the masters at predicton. We should call ourselves: Soxtalk's Magic Eight Balls.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 04:21 PM) I'm with you 100 percent here. Got to find a way to get past uconn but a real weak 2, a real weak 5 imo, unc is solid but I believe Illinois is better, I know msu is going to be everyone's sleeper but until they defend I don't think they do much. I think our draw is a lot harder. Hopefully we'll be matching up with each other. Two defensive teams going at it. West Virginia is a tough team.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 03:31 PM) #1 UConn #16 Albany #8 Kentucky #9 UAB #5 Washington (WOW!!!) #12 Utah State #4 Illinois (WTF?!?!) #13 Air Force #2 Tennessee (WTF??!!?) #15 Winthrop #7 Wichita State (Valley) #10 Seton Hall (hmm......) #3 North Carolina #14 Murray State #6 Michigan State #11 George Mason (hmmm ok.....) That bracket is f***ED UP!!!!! Illinois got f***ed, I'm suprised at some teams that made it. There are teams in this bracket that don't belong, this bracket is TOUGH AS HELL overall, the seeding is bad. Terrible job committee. Illini are going nowhere . I actually think you guys got a decent draw. Seedings are off, but I think your matchups are solid.

Kansas is too low in this bracket. UCLA got a lot of love.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 03:16 PM) I can't be GW dropped that much. But I'm mad that Iowa is in the bracket, plus I could see them losing to West Virginia in the 2nd round. Iowa got jacked. This is a strong ass portion. West Virginia, a quick Northwestern State Team; Saluki's are under-rated. Of course NC State on the other part as a 10 is a joke. They are better than that. Texas is in my mind the best #2 out there (sorry I'd much rather be playing OSU than Texas). Iowa's really going to have to step up, they got a tough ass draw.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 02:39 PM) That was win #10 against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game. 10-3. Despite having 8 losses, this team has beaten more good schools than pretty much anyone in the country. I got real high expectations and am starting to see elite 8 possibilities and even an outside shot at the final 4. Man am I setting myself up for a big crash, but they play such strong team defensive, make free throws, and have some good leaders. Plus they've had tremendous coaching all season.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 02:16 PM) When Alex Thompson is burying a huge 3, it just may be your day. GO HAWKS!!!!!!! Ya. Alfords been raving about how Thompson has been playing in practices, but on game day he tends to be a more passive player. That was awesome when he hit that three and the whole team was out there on the court celebrating. Great win for the Hawkeyes, but the important stuff starts later this week.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 02:35 PM) Jas, I really dont think you should waste your time. If you want to kind of complete the circle by adding in the Hawks, thats one thing, but I really dont know if there will be that much of an interest. If you do go down that route, I will be all the help I can be... Ya..thats farther down the road, especially considering the fact I don't even follow hockey much. That said maybe the Hawks will get the #1 pick and dumb luck there way into taking the right guy and turn things around. Ehh, maybe wishful thinking, lol. Hell an Illini and Notre Dame board may be more wise. But next on the list is the Bulls site (probably opening when I get back from ST in 10 days cause I got midterms and reports this week). Than there will be a good break as those two sites grow and the Sox season starts.

QUOTE(GASHWOUND @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 02:21 PM) I resisted spoilers, even though everyone says what happens near the end is gonna be a shocker or whatever...No clue what it is though..rather be surprised.. I just watched seasons 1-5 the last months also..so I'm caught up Hell ya, just set the DVR to record it. Can't wait for this thing to start.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 02:32 PM) I CANT WAIT FOR TALKBLACKHAWKS.COM Haha, I think my goal is to open that before draft time. But thats gonna be something that you Hockey folk will have to take care of. But as you know, its in the works and the domain is owned (well talkbhawks.com).

Ya, if you could make it 325 width and Who's that would be sweet Deploder. And the one that is the current size may be able to work for something else (if you can switch it to Who). Otherwise cool stuff.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 01:01 PM) I'm not a Bears fan, but I like talking football. All types of discussion will be welcome there.

Soxtalk.com will continue its expansion today, by launching a site, one devoted to the beloved Chicago Bears. This site, TalkBears.com, will be the first of a larger network of Chicago Sports sites that we will be building on our new network, TalkChicagoSports (TCS). Soon to follow the TalkBears.com launch will be a launch of a Chicago Bulls website. We hope to expand the passion that is Soxtalk to other teams fans and try to create that same passion on the web for Bears fans. So if your a Bears fan or have friends/family that are Bears fans please tell them to check TalkBears.com out. The site will begin as one forum, but will eventually expand to have offtopic discussions. Once the site takes off we will upgrade to the version of the site that is used at Soxtalk and in the near future TalkBears will also have a front page. Hopefully everyone enjoys it.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Mar 12, 2006 -> 07:19 AM) Some say it certainly helped Northern Iowa last year. I was thinking last year was when Iowa's AD was one of the higher ups and he had to leave when discussions came up in regards to his team (maybe it was the year before that though)???

It actually hailed tonight out here. I was one of the lucky ones outside. Wasn't big hail or anything. It was rather fun.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Mar 11, 2006 -> 08:48 PM) I am not a fan of UCLA at all. Not only are they in a s***ty conference, they lost to Washington twice, and the best team they beat in non-conference play is probably a toss-up between Nevada and Michigan. They rely very heavily on Afflalo and Farmar, and if one of them has a bad game they are probably done. Mbah A Moute is passable but far from stellar, and Bozeman is really only useful as a defender. Honestly, their offensive options are weaker than Illinois', and their defense isn't as solid. They'll get out of the first round, but I'd guess they'll go down to the 6 seed they'll probably play in the second round. They should be a beast next year though, with another year of experience and Shipp coming back from injury. Statistically speaking, UCLA is one of the best defenses in the country. There adjusted defensive efficiency is 8th in the country. Shockingly Iowa is 2nd in the country . Kansas is #1. Thats from some stat website I was looking at. So I'm going to totally disagree with where you knock UCLA's defense. They will be in the elite 8.

QUOTE(Brian @ Mar 11, 2006 -> 07:24 PM) Watch the kid run at the bottom of the screen I'm probably an ass, but that was hillarious.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 05:51 PM) Banned, IIRC. Correctamundo

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Mar 11, 2006 -> 04:55 PM) If we have the cap room, I'm ok with overpaying for him. I don't know if you watch Chicago Bears football week-in-and-week-out, but, the added dimension he would add to the offense is worth overpaying. True, he is not #2 WR material, but, he is fine in four receiver sets, he can throw the deep-ball, and would slide right in as the return man. The markets are all crazy now anyway. For every quality signing, there are four irrational ones. The only game I missed in the past 4 years was the final game of the regular season this past year (the Vikings game). It was my break to get ready for the playoffs And I'm not ok with overpaying. We are in a good cap position because Angelo has had success in the draft and has been smart with who he's given contracts to and how he's given out the contracts. He's a very cap savvy GM and with his ability to find talent in the draft as well, it means he should be able to make us a contender in this league, year in, year out. That said if I'm shocked and he ends up signing a modest contest, I don't mind Randle El. He's a good guy who played good in the playoffs and is a playmaker.

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 11, 2006 -> 02:07 PM) I've heard rumors of this from more than one source. He was. Take that to the bank.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 11, 2006 -> 01:03 PM) ^^^^x100. Im almost getting sick of myself because it seems like thats all I post anymore. We need at least 1 more veteran in pen. I threw out the name Ray King, but there 20+ other guys that fit the bill, and will be available by June. I'm totally with you two. One now, one at the deadline.