Still havent heard a good answer to this question

[CTBasketball]

Michigan under Howard:
20: Covid (19-12)
21: Elite Eight
22: Sweet 16
23: NIT
24: Garbage

Definitely not headed in the correct direction.

He doesn’t know how to coach.

 

[Blue Blood]

I think Covid may play a larger role in this and not just the fifth year perspective. A lot of the players currently playing D1 played many if not most of their most formative games in front of no audience. Not saying high school gyms have the same environment as colleges but there would be a level of skin thickening that would happen. Hostile environments are going to feel more hostile if that is not something you are used to. Over the past couple years the upper-classmen on the team had the pre-covid experience that is not the case anymore so I do wonder if there is a bit of that leadership gap there. In addition to that the trend of playing fewer and fewer true road games has continued with more MTEs and computer number manipulation players get exposed to opposing fan bases less and less so the impact of a raucous crowd is enhanced.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I think Covid may play a larger role in this and not just the fifth year perspective. A lot of the players currently playing D1 played many if not most of their most formative games in front of no audience. Not saying high school gyms have the same environment as colleges but there would be a level of skin thickening that would happen. Hostile environments are going to feel more hostile if that is not something you are used to. Over the past couple years the upper-classmen on the team had the pre-covid experience that is not the case anymore so I do wonder if there is a bit of that leadership gap there. In addition to that the trend of playing fewer and fewer true road games has continued with more MTEs and computer number manipulation players get exposed to opposing fan bases less and less so the impact of a raucous crowd is enhanced.

NIL will continue to impact the decisions of players who are projected as mid to late 2nd round picks. We know they make more money with NIL than they will in the Gleague especially if they don’t sign a two way contract. COVID just gave those guys one more year.

 

[navery12]

I think there's just less of a difference between teams 11-25 and teams 26-50 or wherever you want to put the cutoff. There's still going to be the elite teams like UConn, Purdue, Houston at the top. But once you get down a little further I'm not sure there's really a huge difference between a lot of these teams.

Take UConn for example, the road loss to Creighton wasn't all that surprising even if the margin was a little bigger than some expected. But everyone (including me) was surprised by the Seton Hall loss. In reality I'm not sure there's really all that big of a difference between the 2 teams despite Creighton consistently being ranked top 20 and Seton Hall maxing out at RV for a few weeks

 

[Captbluefin]

The 5th year Covid guys have really changed a lot. You have older grown men with 4+ years experience playing against 18yo. Freshmen.

The landscape of the game will be much different next year with the massive decrease in 5th year guys.

Many sophomore and freshman players that would have been on the floor the last few years have been “ waiting their turn”

 

[UConnDad]

Talking about home court advantage brings to mind a question I've had. The home team supplies the balls. Different brands can have a different feel, and the pressure can vary (within specs, of course). Can this give a small advantage to the home team?

Is this true? Didn’t know the brand of balls was different.