January: Other NCAA Games

[CardiacAndre7]

Duke is going to run through the ACC like a freight train - they’ll likely win the large majority of their games by double figures. I honestly don’t know who in that awful conference can beat them, or even stay close, and as young as they are will only get better.

Auburn has the benefit of playing lots of highly ranked KP teams. They could hit a tough stretch because of that but who knows.

Duke doesn’t really have much depth. Gillis isn’t very good, Foster got benched, he is okay I guess. Evans is solely a shooter and I like Brown a lot as a defender but he doesn’t have much offensive game.

 

[RuffRuff]

I think Florida is better than both of them but they're all flawed.

Marquette lost in the sweet 16 last year because they shot 4-31 on threes. It wasn't because of their flaws. Kolek's hand isn't all messed up they beat Michigan State the year before, Kolek was hurt against NC State as well.

Marquette looked awful in March last year. Was down 7 at the half against a 15 seed, then barely got by 10 seed Colorado. They were lucky to get to the S16 and looked borderline incompetent against NCSt. They were never close in that game and playing catchup from the teens the majority of the game. They have no interior game at all when it’s needed.

 

[AntG168]

Marquette looked awful in March last year. Was down 7 at the half against a 15 seed, then barely got by 10 seed Colorado. They were lucky to get to the S16 and looked borderline incompetent against NCSt. They were never close in that game and playing catchup from the teens the majority of the game. They have no interior game at all when it’s needed.

Shaka teams always wear down towards the ends the year

 

[RuffRuff]

Duke doesn’t really have much depth. Gillis isn’t very good, Foster got benched, he is okay I guess. Evans is solely a shooter and I like Brown a lot as a defender but he doesn’t have much offensive game.

Not sure if I agree with that. I’d say bringing a great defensive piece off the bench, a ball handler with experience and a 5 star would satisfy what most would call depth at the college level.

No college team is bringing all Americans off the bench.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Not sure if I agree with that. I’d say bringing a great defensive piece off the bench, a ball handler with experience and a 5 star would satisfy what most would call depth at the college level.

No college team is bringing all Americans off the bench.

Well I don’t think Foster is particularly good, and it’s shown because of his benching. Evans is a string bean who can only shoot at this point. Brown is a good piece and Gillis has experience, but he has been pretty awfu this season.

 

[superjohn]

Marquette looked awful in March last year. Was down 7 at the half against a 15 seed, then barely got by 10 seed Colorado. They were lucky to get to the S16 and looked borderline incompetent against NCSt. They were never close in that game and playing catchup from the teens the majority of the game. They have no interior game at all when it’s needed.

Marquette was down by 6 with the ball with 2:30 left despite shooting 4-31 from three on mostly open threes. No team in the country is winning a sweet 16 game other than possibly UConn if they shoot 4-31 from three. That's why they lost. It had nothing to do with their flaws.

 

[superjohn]

Shaka teams always wear down towards the ends the year

The year before last Marquette won 15 out of 16 before the Michigan State game, their lone loss was to UConn which they avenged in the Big East tournament semis before stomping Xavier to win the Big East tournament. Unfortunately for them Kolek got hurt against Vermont and wasn't close to the same for Michigan State. Kolek wasn't the same after the oblique injury heading into the tournament last year either but he gutted it out.

 

[RuffRuff]

Marquette was down by 6 with the ball with 2:30 left despite shooting 4-31 from three on mostly open threes. No team in the country is winning a sweet 16 game other than possibly UConn if they shoot 4-31 from three. That's why they lost. It had nothing to do with their flaws.

Lots of it was because they were playing catch up the whole game. In the tourney you can’t be a one trick pony. They were abysmal in that game, just kept heaving and missing threes. They lost in the second round the previous year as a 2 seed, lost to an even seed by 32 in the first round the year prior. I appreciate your BE allegiances, but to say it was circumstantial is ignoring the Shaka rep.

Kolek being hurt is part of the point - lack of balance runs his guards into the ground come March.

I’ll be surprised if they do anything significant this March.

 

[superjohn]

Lots of it was because they were playing catch up the whole game. In the tourney you can’t be a one trick pony. They were abysmal in that game, just kept heaving and missing threes. They lost in the second round the previous year as a 2 seed, lost to an even seed by 32 in the first round the year prior. I appreciate your BE allegiances, but to say it was circumstantial is ignoring the Shaka rep.

Kolek being hurt is part of the point - lack of balance runs his guards into the ground come March.

I’ll be surprised if they do anything significant this March.

They weren't a one trick pony they just shot horrifically that entire game, teams lose when they shoot that horrifically.

I'm sorry but this is just nonsense. Kolek was hurt, their backup point guard Sean Jones blew out his knee in January. Shaka played 4 guards big minutes- Kolek, Kam, Stevie Mitchell and Chase Ross. There was nothing he could do about not having his backup point guard.

They expected Sean Jones to come back this season but his rehab has taken longer than expected and they're probably watching what happened to Hopkins so it could be problematic again not having him to spell Kam.

 

[RuffRuff]

They weren't a one trick pony they just shot horrifically that entire game, teams lose when they shoot that horrifically.

I'm sorry but this is just nonsense. Kolek was hurt, their backup point guard Sean Jones blew out his knee in January. Shaka played 4 guards big minutes- Kolek, Kam, Stevie Mitchell and Chase Ross. There was nothing he could do about not having his backup point guard.

They expected Sean Jones to come back this season but his rehab has taken longer than expected and they're probably watching what happened to Hopkins so it could be problematic again not having him to spell Kam.

Teams have other ways of scoring when they aren’t hitting threes. Oso regressed the back half of last year, and was producing nothing offensively at that point. If you recall he was widely considered a first round pick early in the season and dropped to the second. Joplin is a highly inefficient 4.

They’re always a terrible rebounding team. It’s a team that lives off turning the ball over, and that is something hard to count on in March. Both they and StJ are top 23 in the country in turning the ball over this year.

Let’s just agree to disagree on this one, or make a bet on their post season chances. Ceiling is S16, I can see them falling short of that.

 

[uconngb]

I don't know about that. He doesn't seem to be self aware and is shameless. So he is like a clown.

You’re right……he will come back and crow about how good Iowa St is.

 

[housekeys]

Are we talking A games in the tournament? Because the Xavier game at home was hard to deduct any points for, jumping out to a 38-7 lead and winning by 43. Marquette at home too, given the quality of the opponent. The Seton Hall revenge game felt pretty good.

In the tournament, I agree. We had a bad second half against Stetson, kinda shot like crap against NW, Illinois and Purdue. And Clingan had an off game against SDSU.

The previous year, we hit pretty close to A against Arkansas (just one weird stretch in the second half when we gave up a 10-0 run without crossing halfcourt) and Gonzaga.

At the risk of threading a needle; no doubt we had a bunch of A- or B+ games. For me a team plays their A game when they are in a competitive game. It can be argued a 50 point win against Depaul is playing your A game. That is not what I mean. An opponent that was so good, it required our guys to play at the highest level the whole game. Mostly because few teams were able to play their A game against us, I guess. Even in the Xavier example, a 31 point lead early, that was extended by 12, was certainly close, but IMO, a bit short of our A game. The last St. Johns game was close, because St Johns was very competitive and I think played as well as they possibly could. Again, I am nit-picking a bit, but that is how it felt to me.

 

[HooperScooper]

Yeah the shine is being knocked off of that Texas win with the way Auburn is dismantling Texas now. The announcers are comparing this Auburn team to last year's UConn team.

Auburn ended up winning by 5 at Texas. Can someone remind us what UConn ended up winning by at Texas?

 

[gsmooth]

Auburn ended up winning by 5 at Texas. Can someone remind us what UConn ended up winning by at Texas?

I was very pleased that Texas made a game out of it.

 

[pepband99]

Duke is going to run through the ACC like a freight train - they’ll likely win the large majority of their games by double figures. I honestly don’t know who in that awful conference can beat them, or even stay close, and as young as they are will only get better.

Auburn has the benefit of playing lots of highly ranked KP teams. They could hit a tough stretch because of that but who knows.

Kenpom gives dook a ~35% chance to run through the ACC at 20-0. That's absurdly high.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

At the risk of threading a needle; no doubt we had a bunch of A- or B+ games. For me a team plays their A game when they are in a competitive game. It can be argued a 50 point win against Depaul is playing your A game. That is not what I mean. An opponent that was so good, it required our guys to play at the highest level the whole game. Mostly because few teams were able to play their A game against us, I guess. Even in the Xavier example, a 31 point lead early, that was extended by 12, was certainly close, but IMO, a bit short of our A game. The last St. Johns game was close, because St Johns was very competitive and I think played as well as they possibly could. Again, I am nit-picking a bit, but that is how it felt to me.

Clingan and Hurley Jr. hit 3s. 'Glou had a steal and dunk. And Xavier was a decent team despite their injuries last year. We annihilated them.

A Game

 

[UCFan1513]

Wooooof

Maybe that's why he thought it was a good idea to be hanging around with them and undergrads.

Gators' Golden facing Title IX stalking inquiry

Florida men's basketball coach Todd Golden is the subject of a Title IX investigation following allegations of sexual harassment and stalking.

www.espn.com

 

[UCFan1513]

Kenpom gives dook a ~35% chance to run through the ACC at 20-0. That's absurdly high.

Dying conference

 

[housekeys]

The SEC claim to fame is really a historic beat down of the ACC teams. You have a 12-1 SEC team, play another 12-1 SEC team, you would expect a close game. Instead we are seeing more than a few blow-outs. It does not make sense to me. It tells me these teams are overrated at worst and inconsistent at best. The SEC deserve the praise, but I think their dominance is limited to just a couple of teams.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

The SEC claim to fame is really a historic beat down of the ACC teams. You have a 12-1 SEC team, play another 12-1 SEC team, you would expect a close game. Instead we are seeing more than a few blow-outs. It does not make sense to me. It tells me these teams are overrated at worst and inconsistent at best. The SEC deserve the praise, but I think their dominance is limited to just a couple of teams.

Gaming the NET and KenPom ratings? It would be like the SEC to do something like that... (Partially joking here)

 

[RuffRuff]

Gaming the NET and KenPom ratings? It would be like the SEC to do something like that... (Partially joking here)

Beyond the metrics if you simply watch the games you’d realize the talent level is another notch. You’re going to see oddball results in any league when players go on road, when teams face #1 at home, etc. Emotions are at play, it creates runs and streaks and sometimes things get out of hand. UK is GAs SB, and there was a lot of home cooking in that one. The road isn’t easy in league play.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Beyond the metrics if you simply watch the games you’d realize the talent level is another notch. You’re going to see oddball results in any league when players go on road, when teams face #1 at home, etc. Emotions are at play, it creates runs and streaks and sometimes things get out of hand. UK is GAs SB, and there was a lot of home cooking in that one. The road isn’t easy in league play.

Exactly. The BY'ers who are clutching their pearls about the game outcomes for Us playing DePaul at DePaul compared to DePaul at Villanova and using them as some valid predictor of relative team strength are hilarious.

 

[RuffRuff]

Exactly. The BY'ers who are clutching their pearls about the game outcomes for Us playing DePaul at DePaul compared to DePaul at Villanova and using them as some valid predictor of relative team strength are hilarious.

You and I are America's honesty brokers!!