L'Ville still looks like the team to beat

[BugsyCT]

Just too strong. But I give Oregon credit - they did their best to hang with 'em.

 

[uconnforlife]

Only team that crushed us all season long. We shouldn't find this suprising.

 

[mcs333]

Russ Smith 80+ points in 3 games.

 

[CL82]

I can't say that I love Pitino getting a NC but as long as it isn't cuse I can live with it.

 

[ASweet3781]

Louisville's toughest game will be the next one. The winner of that one likely wins the whole thing.

 

[tzznandrew]

Louisville's toughest game will be the next one. The winner of that one likely wins the whole thing.

Florida is probably the second or third best team in the tournament. Don't count them out.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I could be far off base here (I may have been in 2010 and felt the same way) but I don't see a lot in anyone who is left. If their opponent doesn't turn the ball over I don't see Louisville generating enough offense to win. I've felt that both Michigan and Florida have been seriously over rated (and somewhat over hyped) all year and I can't believe that one of Marquette and Cuse will be in the final four. I realize that I also need to admit that our 2011 title may well fall into the same category but there was a very talented UK team that we did beat twice that year, giving at least some additional value to that run.

 

[tzznandrew]

I could be far off base here (I may have been in 2010 and felt the same way) but I don't see a lot in anyone who is left. If their opponent doesn't turn the ball over I don't see Louisville generating enough offense to win. I've felt that both Michigan and Florida have been seriously over rated (and somewhat over hyped) all year and I can't believe that one of Marquette and Cuse will be in the final four. I realize that I also need to admit that our 2011 title may well fall into the same category but there was a very talented UK team that we did beat twice that year, giving at least some additional value to that run.

BUT, that UK team was a 4 seed that needed a last second lay-up to beat Princeton in the first round. They were good, but certainly not better than Florida, Duke, or Louisville this year (better than the remaining teams, I'd say--except maybe Michigan).

College Basketball is just down in talent. When you watch games from the mid-90s, when most players stayed 3 years, you see a real difference in offensive abilities. Defenses were still good, but players made far more contested shots (like they do in the NBA).

I agree about the Marquette-Syracuse thing....

For me to win my pool against former students, I need: Duke-Wichita State, Florida-Marquette.

I don't need MU to win...just would much prefer it to Syracuse.

 

[msgordon]

Pitino now 11-0 in regional semis and last night was his CLOSEST game...every other win by double digits and multiple 20-30pt wins. pretty ridiculous stat

 

[rip7774]

L

 

[Perspective]

I have always liked Pitino and 'Ville. I'll root hard for them. Hate Dook. Hate em. Duke winning this year would suck huge. I'd rather see Syracuse win.

K is an overrated coach who has done less with more than any active coach out there. He gets the benefit of over seeding every single year. He gets the benefit of calls. He gets the benefit of being a media darling school.

Anybody but Dook. And I include Kentucky, Syracuse, UMass, and Providence in that.

 

[msgordon]

lol "less with more" thats some pretty strong haterade. 11 final fours, 8 championship appearances and 4 titles. most wins by any coach ever. what do u want him to have by now 15-20 final fours, 8 rings and 1200 wins? 'gets overseeded every year'...hes underseeded as the worst 2 right now playing the overall #1

 

[tzznandrew]

lol "more with less" thats some pretty strong haterade. 11 final fours, 8 championship appearances and 4 titles. most wins by any coach ever. 'gets overseeded every year'...hes underseeded as the worst 2 right now playing the overall #1

He went to, what, 5 straight Final Fours? Then missed a year and went back? If that's overrated, I don't know what to say. What do you think of Roy Williams, then?

Duke certainly has a "type" of player they recruit, and there are certain players they won't recruit. They tie one arm behind their back. It's less noble given that they don't lose many recruiting battles, but still...

I want them to lose, but I no longer hate them. I'd pick Duke over Syracuse. And, frankly, as much as I don't hate Louisville, I'm still a little bitter and don't want them to tie us for titles. So I'm rooting for Duke and Wichita State today; Michigan and Marquette tomorrow.

 

[msgordon]

'less with more' argument starts and ends with rick barnes

 

[Perspective]

lol "less with more" thats some pretty strong haterade. 11 final fours, 8 championship appearances and 4 titles. most wins by any coach ever.

This is simple rational argument. Not "feely feel feel good" crap.

If I said he does less with more, do you understand how irrational it is to respond with how much he's done?

Is there any part of your frontal cortex that lights up at that? Hmm?

VERY QUICK example.

You say he has 4 titles.
Calhoun has 3.

By your irrational application, Calhoun did not do more with less, because K has more titles. Right? All we need to do is look at the number of titles.

A better measure is how many wins per AA. Or how many titles per AA. Or how many after being seeded number 1? Or how many elite 8s after being seeded 2 or better?

He has made 13 elite 8s. But how many times has he been seeded a number 2 seed or higher? TWENTY.

That's success? That's doing more with less? You get seeded 2 or better twenty times and you only manage to make the elite eight 13 times? That sounds like a garbage output. GARBAGE.

Very simple - it means one of two things:

1. You suck as a game coach when it counts.
or
2. You get overseeded perennially.

I think it's both. I hate Duke as a basketball school. I have no respect for them. I have nothing but disdain, for the following reasons, which is not an exhaustive list:

They have done less with more than any school in the history of the game. They get the benefit of the calls, regularly. The networks coddle them. They have played in a sh-tty conference for years, and they compile wins by playing crappy teams at their home court, where all the calls go their way. They comprise a large proportion of whiny white boys and proper black boys, who stink of elite upbringings. Their cheerleaders are better looking than ours. They're in the south, which is bad, and North Carolina, which is worse. Their coach bagged them during their toughest season for a BS injury, leaving his assistant to hold the bag on a horrible season. Christaen Laetner. Single handedly diminishing the quality of the game with cigarette flopping. Having the refs call their cigarette flops. And 100 other reasons I don't have time to list.

duck D----k. Hard. Everywhere. And their dogs.

You, silly man, have bought into the myth that he's a great coach running a great program with great results.

Horse .

The truth is, he's got a great schtick going. He's at the opposite end of the spectrum from Squid. He's sold the illusion that D---k is different because it's aloof and elite. And MAAs flock in under that illusion. And, perennially, he does less with more.

Don't drink the Kool Aide.

It's like a guy throwing 100 darts at the board and hitting a half dozen bulls eyes. It doesn't make him a better dart player than the guy who throws ten and hits 5, it only makes him better at collecting darts to throw.

 

[msgordon]

if it makes you feel better i will concede that i think u do a good job of saying less with more words than any active poster

 

[tzznandrew]

There is one coach with more Final Four appearances than K: Wooden. And Wooden only has 1 more. And K did it in an era with 64 teams.

There is one coach with more Titles than K all time: Wooden.

Duke was a very good program before K. They went to four Final Fours and two Title Games. But they weren't Duke.

There was an ESPN article that I couldn't find that rated performances in the NCAA relative to seed. Up to the mid-2000s, when Duke fell off for a bit, and got upset a number of times, Duke and UConn were 1-2 in Performance against Seed expectations.

If I were to pick a coach for UConn, it would always be JC. UConn when Calhoun took over was nothing compared to Duke when K took over. K and JC, though, are in my opinion the best two coaches of the era. If 4 titles and 11 is doing more with less, then only Wooden and maybe (given the history of the school) Calhoun meet your standards. And it's a huge maybe with Calhoun, because 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2006 were all 1-2 seeded teams that didn't make the Final Four, and two didn't even make the E8.