GPC and Bracket Challenge update 2!

The March Madness tournament is almost over, with the Final Four teams selected, which is Butler, MSU, WVU, and Duke. For most, the tournament is done, but for some of the top people remaining, they are looking for that free item of their choice from our shop. The top 5 people looking for that prize in the Challenge are:

1. Ken 
2. Eric
3. SBB
4. Mali
5. Ben Patrick

As far as the GPC goes, here are the standings:


Writer - Ian: 49-26 - 1st - tied

Writer - Chris: 35-29 - 9th - tied

Reader - Ken: 49-28 - 1st - tied

Reader - Doug: 1-0 - 13th

Reader - Sebastian: 43-30 - 2nd

Reader - Eric: 41-31 - 3rd

Reader - Todd: 39-27 - 5th - tied

Reader - T. Reigle: 38-21 - 6th - tied

Reader - SBB: 36-26 - 8th

Reader - J. Heck: 33-28 - 10th

Reader - B. Patrick: 37-24 7th - tied

Reader - Bill Weaver: 38-30 6th - tied

Reader - Daniel Denton: 35-32 9th - tied

Reader - L. Alicea: 36-32 8th - tied

Reader - Jakob Thais: 36-29 8th - tied

Reader - B. Ludwiczak: 38-25 6th - tied

Reader - Steve Crummie: 32-30 11th

Reader - J. Pham: 39-26 5th - tied

Reader - Mali: 40-22 - 4th

Things are pretty close, so good luck to everyone in the tournament!

Lazy Sunday

So we WOULD be playing Michigan State today, but Tennessee got some good calls. So, if anything, cheer for MSU today. We really don't want UT winning it all, do we? Plus, MSU is the last Big Ten team left, so we've GOT to root for them. I don't think they'll win though, UT is too good for them. Let's all hope for the upset. Many of you may think that it would be a good sign for UT to win because that would mean we lost to THE championship team. Actually, you would be wrong, because that means if we would have beaten them, we might have been champions our self. So, the season is over..and football season is still 27 days away. So now, Buckeye fans have to turn to...ahem, nothing.

This is the worst part through the year, except maybe after the spring game. We'll keep you up to date on the happenings with the Buckeyes. Still expect all the POW's and all that. As far as the GPC goes, were about to crown our monthly winner. Of course, you don't win anything, except you get your name on the sidebar, with a picture of a trophy. If you win the most months, you get the free item from the ITS Shop at the end of the year.

Inside The Shoe is still looking for two writers. One basketball, and one football writer. If your interested, please leave a comment, or email us at insidetheshoe2009@hotmail.com. The requirements can be found here. We hope to be talking to you soon!

GPC and Bracket Challenge update

First, let me just say that tBBC and Mali, beat me to the punch today. I was planning on doing a post giving you updates on the Bracket Challenge and the GPC. So, Kudos to them

Anyway, on to business. As you all know, the Game Picking Center takes the picks you chose on the brackets, and adds it to your winning and losing records. The losing records don't even really mean anything, I just put it up there in case your curious what your record is through the tournament. J. Pham and B. Ludwiczak are tied for first place, but there is still plenty of tournament to get some wins in. Here's a picture for you to feast your eyes on.

Still hard to see..Oh well, I'm about to break it down for you.

Here are the standings for the brackets:

1st. J. Pham and B. Ludwiczak

3rd. Todd Reigle

4th. Me (hells yes) and Mali

6th. Ken, Ben Patrick, L. Alicea

9th. Sebastian and Bill Weaver

11th. SBB, Chris, Daniel Denton

15. Todd Hiltibran

16. Eric

17. J. Heck

18. S. Crummie.

Well, I know a couple of those guys started at the top and fell, but I won't point fingers. As for the rest, If your doing bad, don't get discouraged, you might still be in the running for the GPC. Here are the rankings for you guys to look over.

Writer - Ian: 42-23 - 1st

Writer - Chris: 29-22 - 9th - tied

Reader - Ken: 41-21 - 2nd

Reader - Doug: 1-0 - 13th

Reader - Sebastian: 38-23 - 3rd

Reader - Eric: 33-30 - 5th - tied

Reader - Todd: 34-23 - 4th

Reader - T. Reigle: 33-16 - 5th

Reader - SBB: 29-19 - 9th - tied

Reader - J. Heck: 27-26 - 12th - tied

Reader - B. Patrick: 31-18 7th - tied

Reader - Bill Weaver: 32-28 6th - tied

Reader - Daniel Denton: 30-24 8th - tied

Reader - L. Alicea: 32-26 6th - tied

Reader - Jakob Thais: 30-26 8th - tied

Reader - B. Ludwiczak: 31-20 7th - tied

Reader - Steve Crummie: 28-25 10th - tied

Reader - J. Pham: 34-20 4th - tied

Reader - Mali: 32-19 - 6th - tied

If you must know, I have to put in all those records myself, which means I go through every single one of your brackets and count the wins, and the losses. Yes, I am a nice guy, thanks. If you aren't doing so hot in the GPC or the Bracket Challenge....well...then good luck next year! No, really, you still have all of football season to catch up, so good luck there. Ken and I are neck and neck for first, with Todd and Sebastian giving chase, following closely. Well, it's going to be an interesting rest of the tournament I'm sure, so good luck to everyone, and leave your comments below for some good ole' trash talking!

 

Tip off time released for 1st game

Let's get fired up Buckeyes!

We learned it would be against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Friday about five minutes into the selection telecast. Now, we have an approximate tip off time: 9:45ish.

I will not lie, I'm afraid of him.

Technically, the game is scheduled to start “30 min fol.” the conclusion of the 6:15 Oklahoma State/Georgia Tech tilt.

Also, only a couple of days remaining until the start of the Bracket Challenge!! For a chance to win an item of your choice for free from the ITS Shop, and of course, bragging rights, go to this link to sign up!

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=10767&entryID=153062

Password is after semicolon; insidetheshoe

Entering also enters you into the Game Picking Center!!

Good Luck!

Recap: Ohio State vs. Minnesota Big Ten Championship

That is how you play Big Ten basketball. With the Selection show coming up here soon, people will be glued to their TV sets as everyone wants to see who goes where, and with what seed. The Golden Gophers started out well, as in the first half they stayed with the Buckeyes, always within 2 or 3. The Buckeyes were led by Evan Turner, but also David Lighty stepped up and had 3 or 4 straight three's. Minnesota will still be looking for the NCAA tourny, but Ohio State is looking for a 1 seed, but Duke and Syracuse are favored for it. This was a big win for the Buckeyes, as the Football, Basketball, and Women's basketball teams won the Big Ten Championship. It's a great time to be a Buckeye, and now we will wait to hear where everyone is going. Jon Diebler and William Buford both topped double digits with 19 and 13 respectively.

Buford throws the hammer down.

The Buckeyes as a team shot 58.6% (34-58) from the floor and 57.1% (12-21) from three in route to the massacre. The Bucks also out-rebounded the Gophers 18-7 in the second half, completely shutting down the 2nd chance buckets for Minnesota through the end of the game. Evan Turner also had a double double, and played outstanding. The Buckeyes managed to play Kecman, PJ Hill, Jeremie Simmons and Zisis Sarikopoulos for the last minute and a half to give them some floor time during the championship. The Buckeyes next find themselves in the NCAA Tournament with what will very likely be a 2 seed. Those games start on Thursday, March 18th at Noon on CBS. Go Bucks!


Finally, this is your last chance to sign up for the Bracket Challenge on ESPN. The link is http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=10767&entryID=153062

Go there, sign up, and the password is insidetheshoe. If you win, you get a free item of your choice from the ITS shop. Finally, congrats to everyone on the wins in the Big Ten Tourny for the GPC. Here are the standings as of now.

Writer - Ian: 10-3 - 1st



Writer - Chris: 2-0 - 5th


Reader - Ken: 9-3 - 2nd


Reader - Doug: 1-0 - 6th - tied


Reader - Sebastian: 8-2 - 3rd


Reader - Eric: 5-4 - 4th


Reader - Todd: 1-0 - 6th - tied


Reader - T. Reigle: 0-0 - 7th

The Bracket challenge will shoot these records wayyy up, and we wish everyone luck.

Let's do this: Big Ten Championship.

UPDATE: There will be no POW for this week, as with all the Madness of the March Madness tourny going on, I have to stay on top of the game, and I don't want too many posts a day.

The Big Ten Tournament has been a good one, and will bring some good memories for Ohio State and now Minnesota. Ohio State had to battle and hit a buzzer beater to win their first game against Michigan, and then went into double overtime against Illinois today. They won both, and now they stand to take on Minnesota in the Championship game for the Big Ten. Minnesota had a fun road as well, first taking on the lowest seed, Penn State. Although it was Penn State, they still could have lost, had Taylor Battle, PSU's "Evan Turner", not gotten hurt. In fact, Eric, over at tBBC even went so far to say that Ohio State would be facing Penn State tommorow.

He was wrong, and Minnesota took care of business winning 76-55. Then, Minnesota faced a heavily favored Michigan State last night, in which they won in dramatic fashion, in overtime. They shocked not only the Spartans, but a lot of the Big Ten. Purdue was the next opponent, also heavily favored, and was looking forward to the match-up, because they thought they could get by with an easy, comfortable win. Instead, they got blown out just a little bit ago, 69-42. Now the Gopher's must take down the heavily favored Buckeyes. If Ohio State was smart, they would give it their all right away, or risk being upset and losing the possible 1 seed. Right now, ESPN is saying that Syracuse is in the lead for the 1 seed, but anything can happen.

As far as the Game Picking Center goes, things are starting to heat up in the competition, as I picked wrong a couple of times, and Ken was the only player that picked Minnesota to win. Here are the standings as of now.

Writer - Ian: 9-3 - 1st

Writer - Chris: 2-0 - 5th

Reader - Ken: 8-3 - 2nd

Reader - Doug: 1-0 - 6th

Reader - Sebastian: 7-2 - 3rd

Reader - Eric: 4-4 - 4th

Reader - Todd: 0-0 - 7th

The GPC is still open for players to join, but if you don't sign up before the NCAA tourney, you will most likely NOT win. So, if you want to participate, leave your desired name, and tell us you want to join in the fun. Remember, if you sign up for our blog bracket challenge over at ESPN, then you have a chance to win a free item of your choice from our ITS Shop! How cool is that?

Quick Shout out to Todd Hiltibran for joining the challenge, and that also puts you in the GPC. Good Luck!

The link has been provided, and time is running out, so please join up!

Password for the group is: insidetheshop

Good Luck everyone!

Your Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals Open Thread

Quaterfinals thread!

It's now open!

I won't be here for the first two games, but still, have fun, and start the commenting and bragging going on about the Game Picking Center!

Go Bucks!

Make Your Picks: Big Ten Tournament round 1

The Big Ten Tournament starts tommorow. Michigan and some other teams that aren't Ohio State will be kicking it off for us, and we want all you to make your picks as a comment below for the GPC. The following games are the games we want you to decide who the winner will be for each one Since you don't know if I cheat or not, I will put my picks below the game.:

Michigan (14-16, 7-11 Big Ten) vs. Iowa (10-21, 4-14 Big Ten) Game is at 2:30 PM est on ESPN2

My Pick: Michigan

Indiana (10-20, 4-14 Big Ten) vs. Northwestern (19-12, 7-11 Big Ten) Game is at 4:55 PM est on ESPN2

My Pick: Northwestern

Penn State (11-19, 3-15 Big Ten) vs. Minnesota (18-12, 9-9 Big Ten) Game is at 7:30 PM est on ESPN2 

My Pick: Minnesota

We encourage you all to join the GPC by commenting below as well as posting your picks. We wish everyone good luck in the tournament. We will have an Open Thread up all day, so feel free to post your thoughts, comments, and opinons on the days action! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Sign up for a chance to win a prize, if you win you get it. Password is insidetheshoe

Would like to give a shout out to Sebastian, who signed up for the GPC, we now have 3 readers involved..Join for a chance to win a free item out of our shop if you get the most monthly winning records!

Yes, it is time for some fun.

I mean, whenever you read this blog, when is it not fun, right?

Anyway, this is the start of our brand new group on ESPN. It's time to get those bracket's going! I created the group, and here's the information to join:

Group Name: Inside The Shoe

Password: insidetheshoe

• Rules: Must be human
• One bracket per person

Folks, this is going to be some serious compeitton, because if you win, you win a free item from our ITS Shop! The best part is, you do not have to be over 18, and you even get bragging rights. Of course, when you fill out your bracket, keep in mind if you join this group, you also sign up for the Game Picking Center here at Inside The Shoe. So if you end up not wanting to particpate in the GPC for the Big Ten Tournament, then you can come back for the March Madness tournament, and kick some butt. You all should know by now how to sign up for the GPC, but to sign up for our group on ESPN.com, just go to this link.

Also, there is a reason to try for the GPC, because at the end of the year, (long way away right now, but still) you also win a free item from the shop! We want to wish everyone good luck in the challenge, and I expect to see you all there!

Big Ten Tournament Time.

The time has come for the Big Ten Tournament. This Thursday, get your eyes ready for the very beginning of March Madness.

Sorry it's hard to read.

The Buckeyes get a first round bye, while 6 teams face off to kick off the tourny. They are Minnesota, Penn State, Indiana, Northwestern, Iowa, and Michigan. Regardless of the records, you could see Penn State or Iowa take it all. That's whats great about this, the sheer craziness of it all. We look forward to Thursday. On Thursday, we will feature one post on all of the games played that day, and we want your picks for them for our GPC. If you haven't signed up, just comment below you would like to participate, it's not too late, seeing as your going to be picking on over 64 games this month. For everyone already playing, you know the drill, and good luck to all! Go Bucks!

The Final Destination..