The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[udosuk]

In the 2nd 4 games, my predictions went 3 for 4 again...

Nigeria beating Lebanon & NZ beating Panama were well-expected... But the other 2 games all went to the wire... So many thrillers these couple days!

Lithuania helped us through by just beating Brazil... But it's more to do with Brazil couldn't hit a shot in the last few seconds and Lithuania keeping their nerves to hit some critical FTs...

My only miss this time round is Italy at the end just holding off PR by 1, and PR was eliminated painfully... So my only 2 misses thus far are by 4 & 1 pt respectively... Let's see how it went tonight for the final 4 games...

[udosuk]

Not surprisingly, 3 out of 4 again... So my percentage is 9/12=75%...

All 3 blowouts (France, Spain, USA) were easy to guess, and Greece beat Turkey by 7 in another thriller...

So the bracket is decided:

Code: Select all

Argentina
New Zealand
Turkey
Slovenia

Spain
Serbia and Montenegro
Italy
Lithuania

Greece
China
France
Angola

United States
Australia
Germany
Nigeria

So potentially, if USA gets past us, Dirk will be waiting for you guys in the round of 8...

I have a gut feeling China could upset Greece and then Angola (who could beat France)... Also, Argentina looks in the best shape with the opponents in its quarter... But a very tough semi-final opponent, one of the 4 European superpowers... I think NZ's chance of beating Argentina won't be better than us beating USA...

[Hud]

I'm glad Australia made the sweet sixteen. They worked very hard to get there and the heartbreaker in the last 10 seconds awhile back won't haunt them now.

I was somewhat surprised to see how well Angola has done so far in the tournament. Wasn't it Angola whom Charles Barkley dissed in the dream team series around 14 years ago?

I'm surprised that Brazil didn't advance, but stuff happens. Too bad the triple overtime Dirk game wasn't televised here. I'd have liked to see it. I like the 40 minute games more than the 48ers here in the NBA. I suppose I have a short attention span. Speaking of which, I have another puzzle that I'm stuck on, and I'm getting up my nerve to post it.

I know that it's "one and done" from here on out. I'm assuming that each bracket gets one survivor to go into the final four. I'm ashamed to admit it, but the games aren't generating much press here in the US. I suppose if we had been humiliated again, it would be big news. The US Press seems to only thrive on bad news. They made a BIG deal about the Autistic Kid in Rochester, NY making 20 points in the only game he appeared in in high school this season. He did it in the last few minutes with his team feeding him shots from 3 point land. He attended the same school my daughter attended right before we left Rochester. Sorry if this makes no sense, but it was big news here for a time, and a movie about the kid is in the works.

[udosuk]

Thanks for the info about the autistic kid... I checked it out, pretty inspiring story...

I've once made 6 straight 3-pointers in a game too... It's a great feeling once you're in the zone...

It's once & done now... Anything could happen...

[udosuk]

Hud, I got a puzzle for you...

8 seconds
1/11
1/7
karma
2 months ago
2 years ago
payback time

What story do I have in mind?

[Hud]

Udosuk, I'll have to work on that one. I suspect it may have to do with Martina Hingis, but possible not. Give me a day to think it over.

I keep looking at the puzzle that I can't solve and it's driving me crazy. Today the paper had one that was supposed to be the same degree of difficulty, and it simply required a naked triple to crack.

Cec told me he's been unable to access the forum. I PMd Son-o-Pappocom about it just a minute ago. Hope Cec gets back with us.

[udosuk]

Nothing to do with Martina.

The story is about 2 team sports, 3 nations and 3 tournaments.

I've sometimes experienced difficulty to login to this forum too... I hope Cec's problem is just temporary...

The Aussies are getting kicked pretty miserably by the Americans right now...

[udosuk]

Alright, so no upsets (almost), everything goes normally...

Quarters:
Argentina - Turkey
Spain - Lithuania
Greece - France
USA - Germany

6 European teams vs 2 from North/South America...
But the 2 American teams are the favourites...

[Hud]

I was really surprised to see yet another African Team almost take the Germans. Does it surprise you to see them playing that well? I think that all it'll take for them to become "world class" are better coaching and competition. I'd like to see them play in the Euroleague if they don't already.
I think the Aussies played well for one quarter, but were simply outmanned the rest of the way. I still don't like our defense at times, but as I said earlier, it's probably hard to play tough D when far ahead. I still wish we had some purely defensive players on the teams for certain situations. Ben Wallace comes to mind, but I'd hate to have to see him shoot FTs in a close game.
The announcers of the game raved about Spain's chances, and didn't give Argentina much of a shot at beating them. I really don't know, but Argentina is defending champion (I think).
They keep mentioning the "trapezoidal" paint area and I got to thinking that that isn't a trapezoid. I looked it up and the US and British definitions are different in that the US one has 2 parallel sides, and the British has none.
Now I have to relook at the puzzle. I had pretty much ruled out Martina when you mentioned "2 years ago".
Nice to see Cec back. I wonder if he had a "cookie" problem? That's happened to me in the past. I guess we can't lose our cookies.

[udosuk]

Why look down on the Africans? They have good physical fitness, they could jump high, they're tough... I don't see why they can't beat Europeans/Americans/Asians etc... By qualifying to the last 16 I think both of them already belong to the "world class"... If you refer to the "world elite" then only 4 teams qualify (Argentina, Spain, Greece, USA, i.e. those unbeaten so far) and Germany doesn't belong there (yet)...

I think in modern basketball nothing is certain... If 1 or 2 players get hot and make a @#$*load of 3s then any particular team can beat any other team on any given day... Of course, I'm assuming if both are roughly the same class (such as the 8 teams we have now)...

Trapezoid and trapezium is another "USA vs the world" confusion... I thought mathematics is supposed to be universal but unfortunate it's not the case...

I always clear the cookies after a browsing session, but haven't encountered any problems... So it's probably other troubles Cec is having...

BTW Serbia (and Montenegro) was the defending champ... Argentina was #2 in 2002 & #1 in 2004 Olympics... Spain is famous for their underachieving in international comp and Argentina is famous for overarchieving... So it's a funny matchup to watch (if they both reach the semis)...

Like I said, if USA bring their games (collectively) to the court they're supposed to win every game... If they don't, it's anybody's tournament...

[Hud]

About the African Teams, I just didn't realize they had come so far along teamwise. They obviously have all the physical tools to excel.

Maybe what I heard re: the Argentine Team was about the last Olympics.

A team getting hot shooting 3 pointers can also apply to a team suddenly growing cold from outside. The announcers last night (here) said last year's US Team was terrible from 3 point land and also shooting inside. I really want to see how the US Team handles adversity, but with "one and done", there won't be a second chance. The announcers also made the point that Coach K is used to those kinds of situations in the NCAA tournaments.

I didn't realize how good Carmelo Anthony was til these games. I did see him in person 2 years ago (I believe). He got 40 points or so, but his Nugget Team lost by about that much to the Suns. The announcers also made a point about Lebron James stepping aside to allow Wade and Anthony take the most shots. They also pointed out that the team might not have functioned as well if Marbury or Iverson were playing the point.

[udosuk]

The Argentine team is special, in that it was the first team ever to beat an NBA player-led USA team in 2002, and was collectively speaking the best achievers in the last 4 years in international basketball tournaments... And they are not relying on individual talent of Manu Ginobili (unlike Germany or China), but team chemistry, great coaching and hard defense...

USA shot pretty well on 3s against us... But the full court press is also a great weapon... I guess it's a must for to have a great PG for any chance to beat you... Too bad we couldn't see Steve Nash playing against you...

And I think Chris Paul's contribution is underrated a little bit... He's the next best thing you guys got after Nash...

[Hud]

Nice to see Argentina move ahead. There were no games on TV here last night. I thought one was televised last night, but evidentally not. Spain sounds very tough and continues on. Our announcers make a point about whether we can develope team chemistry with only 3 weeks (they say) of practice together. That would lend credence to my idea of using a complete team instead of a patchwork of players. I don't think the NBA would like it at all if one of its elite teams were beaten by an international team.

I was wishing that Steve Nash was leading our offense. Chris Paul is doing a commendable job for us though.

Have you noticed that the guys seem to jump into the lane before FTs are shot? It's really noticable when a player has a little hitch in his FT style. So far, I haven't seen it called and hope it's not called since it's somewhat subjective, and can really hurt if called at the wrong time.

I give up on the karma contest. It seems that if I'm not ontrack for the right answer, it doesn't surface.

[udosuk]

In the last 8 seconds of the quarterfinal game between Italy and Lithuania, the team combined to shoot 1/11 from the FT line... Italy in particular shot 1/7... It could be karma for what they did to Australia in the Soccer World Cup 2 months ago... Also, Italy upset Lithuania 2 years ago in the semifinal of the Athens Olympics, shooting an amazing 18/28 3P%... It looked like payback time all around...

They say Spain holds a 5-1 head-to-head advantage against Argentina, and Argentina has a serious match-up problem against the Spanish and Pau Gasol... So it'd not be surprising to see Spain beating Argentina... But I think most would like to see Argentina play USA in the final, because Spain would probably not stand a chance against USA (in the Athens 2004 Olympic, Spain beat Argentina to finish #1 in group play, only to lose to USA in the quarterfinal, while Argentina has beaten USA twice in the last 4 years)...

[Added later:]

If anything, this tournament has given us the clear top 4 teams in the world: Argentina, Spain, Greece, USA... All are unbeaten so far... The fact that Australia almost beat one of them (Greece) could be viewed as a psychological consolation... But then again, they only won 2 of 6 games they played there... Just like they almost beat the Soccer World Cup Champion, but no one would view them as anything serious...

I think Greece will be the first "true" test the Americans face... But with 2 games from the finishing line it's a bit hard to bet against USA now... They didn't shoot spectacularly well today, just outhustled and outjumped the Germans comprehensively (it didn't help that Dirk was hit with his 3rd foul before halftime)... But the energy level of the Greeks (and also the other 2 "elite" teams) would be another story... I think at the end of the day it'd be decided on who shoot the ball more accurately (same story for the other semifinal)...

[Hud]

I got up at 4:30am today to play golf, and happened to notice the game was still on. At the time it was almost tied in the low 40s, and I didn't like the feel of it. Wade had also just gone to the floor by what might have been a poke in the eye. I didn't want to get all worked up so I didn't watch any more of it. The game did seem to follow the MO of being close til late then the other team being worn down by the pace, but I really don't know if that happened.

The sportscasters here did say the US will have to shoot better in order to win, but I like the scrambling and better defense.

I believe I saw someone rate Greece fourth of the four. I don't think I can watch anymore of the games since it gets me too worked up. I'll try to ctch as much second hand as possible though.

For some reason, I equated the 1/7 and 1/11 as dates. I should probably ask more questions.

I believe you're right about techies prefering Linux over the more widespread OSs.