Week of 1/29 Other games

[AzHusky]

They were saying during the game that it took J. Wright 4 years to turn Nova around and that the fans should give Neptune more time.

 

[HooperScooper]

Carter looks gassed!

Remember what he looked like at the end against UConn? Looked like he had just gone 12 rounds of a heavyweight fight. He's probably carrying too much of a load with Hopkins out for the season.

 

[Devland]

I know everyone loves him for some reason. But I’m not sold on English. Mediocre A10 coach moves up the ranks quickly because of connections, immediately has a mediocre season after bringing in many of his own guys, and retaining Cooleys good players. I think they have more talent than their record.

Similar, but at a lesser scale, to Ollie winning with Calhoun's players. I think it takes at least 3 years to judge a coach. Calhoun and Hurley didn't have great years their first year at UConn.

 

[Chin Diesel]

They were saying during the game that it took J. Wright 4 years to turn Nova around and that the fans should give Neptune more time.

Except the Nova Jay Wright inherited isn't the same Nova he turned over to Neptune.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

They were saying during the game that it took J. Wright 4 years to turn Nova around and that the fans should give Neptune more time.

Yeah, but the team Neptune inherited didn't need turning around.

 

[AzHusky]

Watching Stanford/Arizona and they are playing no D basketball.

 

[UConNick]

Illinois making a run at an all-time choke. At home, they were up 72-62 with 3 minutes left, Nebraska goes on an 11-0 run to take the lead with 9 seconds left. Then, they foul the Illini on the last possession, and per the broadcast the kid is the second-best FT shooter in the conference. Makes the first, misses the second. OT. Just when I was coming around to considering Illinois “good” good.

Should add, Nebraska does seem to have a sneaky good team. Tominaga and Mast are legit and there a couple other good pieces around them.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They were saying during the game that it took J. Wright 4 years to turn Nova around and that the fans should give Neptune more time.

Wright had nothing when he got to Villanova. This year’s Villanova team has a lot of talent.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Illinois making a run at an all-time choke. At home, they were up 72-62 with 3 minutes left, Nebraska goes on an 11-0 run to take the lead with 9 seconds left. Then, they foul the Illini on the last possession, and per the broadcast the kid is the second-best FT shooter in the conference. Makes the first, misses the second. OT. Just when I was coming around to considering Illinois “good” good.

Should add, Nebraska does seem to have a sneaky good team. Tominaga and Mast are legit and there a couple other good pieces around them.

I had a parlay on:
Nebraska +10
Nebraska Over 71.5
Illinois Under 81.5

Once Nebraska scored to go up 73-72, literally the only thing I needed to avoid was Overtime. Literally the only thing I couldn't have was a foul and 1/2 free throws. So, naturally...

Basketball-wise, Illinois is probably an also-ran. Maybe a 4 seed but unlikely to really bother anyone. Nebraska is actually sneaky-good and should make the field (though winning tonight would have helped).

 

[aceboon]

His "problem," which, well, that kind of depends on his goal, is that he is a coach for his players and not for the fans. He openly does not care about success at this level. He cares about getting his guys to the NBA, and if they happen to win along the way, that's nice, but not the main goal.

Meh, I think that's more of a front Calipari puts on to try to disguise his shortcomings, although now the UK fans aren't buying it anymore

 

[alphasigko]

I know everyone loves him for some reason. But I’m not sold on English. Mediocre A10 coach moves up the ranks quickly because of connections, immediately has a mediocre season after bringing in many of his own guys, and retaining Cooleys good players. I think they have more talent than their record.

Not sure it would have been so mediocre if Hopkins did not cash out so early in the season.

 

[HooperScooper]

Meh, I think that's more of a front Calipari puts on to try to disguise his shortcomings, although now the UK fans aren't buying it anymore

I was going to say the same. He's like Pitino in that regard.

 

[Devland]

PC only had 4 players score in their game. No one from PC scored over 20. I'm not sure I've ever seen that.

 

[Rocktheworld]

We are firmly ahead of them on the S-Curve. We're like 3 losses (and one Q2 loss or worse) from worrying about UNC. We have the most Q1 wins (UNC doesn't even have a top of opportunities left), beat them head to head, and have no bad losses while being ahead of them in every meaningful metric.

No reason for paranoia. We can probably lose 3 more regular season games, non-Georgetown & DePaul, and still end up #1 in Boston.

It’s not paranoia man. We are talking about a committee of densely flawed humans who decide the seeding. Wouldn’t it be great if a conglomerate of KenPom NET and Torvik rankings decided seeding but sadly we deal with a set of morons

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

PC only had 4 players score in their game. No one from PC scored over 20. I'm not sure I've ever seen that.

75% of scorers in double figures.
73% of their FGs were assisted.
100% on their free throws.
No other team did that this weekend.

 

[HooperScooper]

75% of scorers in double figures.
73% of their FGs were assisted.
100% on their free throws.
No other team did that this weekend.

CFJ with a bagel. The only starter with that distinction. How does he still start?

 

[tzznandrew]

It’s not paranoia man. We are talking about a committee of densely flawed humans who decide the seeding. Wouldn’t it be great if a conglomerate of KenPom NET and Torvik rankings decided seeding but sadly we deal with a set of morons

It's absolutely paranoia in this situation. UNC has a neutral court double digit loss to UConn in addition to 2 more losses. 2 of those losses are Q2. As of right now, none of their remaining home games are Q1 (and that includes Clemson, which is close-ish at 37) and they only have two road games against Top 70 NET teams. So they're more or less maxed out at 7 Q1 regular season wins.

UConn already has 8, and 4 out of their last 9 will be Q1 opportunities.

A lot can happen, but there's a gulf here between UConn and UNC aside from the head-to-head beatdown. And they don't have many opportunities to actually improve their resume.

 

[Rocktheworld]

It's absolutely paranoia in this situation. UNC has a neutral court double digit loss to UConn in addition to 2 more losses. 2 of those losses are Q2. As of right now, none of their remaining home games are Q1 (and that includes Clemson, which is close-ish at 37) and they only have two road games against Top 70 NET teams. So they're more or less maxed out at 7 Q1 regular season wins.

UConn already has 8, and 4 out of their last 9 will be Q1 opportunities.

A lot can happen, but there's a gulf here between UConn and UNC aside from the head-to-head beatdown. And they don't have many opportunities to actually improve their resume.

I can’t wait to be wrong

 

[imno1]

They were saying during the game that it took J. Wright 4 years to turn Nova around and that the fans should give Neptune more time.

It only took Neptune 1 year to turn Nova around. Unfortunately in the wrong direction

Do they even put that on TV?

That‘s why there’s espn+

 

[tzznandrew]

I can’t wait to be wrong

Don't forget: a 26-8 ACC tournament champion Duke who was on a long win streak got a 5 seed. UConn, who was 25-8 and had neither regular season nor BET titles (not even a title game appearance), got the 4 seed. If you were thinking there was bias either for Duke or against UConn, you would have seen it there.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Don't forget: a 26-8 ACC tournament champion Duke who was on a long win streak got a 5 seed. UConn, who was 25-8 and had neither regular season nor BET titles (not even a title game appearance), got the 4 seed. If you were thinking there was bias either for Duke or against UConn, you would have seen it there.

I think I’m just so scared of the possibility of us not getting Brooklyn and Boston because I can’t imagine a better scenario as a fan, and we’ve been sent to odd regions several times while certain programs seem to get special treatment

 

[JohnnyJr]

We’d have to have both Tennessee and UNC pass us to lose the East right? Or would Tennessee be lined up for Midwest?

 

[tzznandrew]

I think I’m just so scared of the possibility of us not getting Brooklyn and Boston because I can’t imagine a better scenario as a fan, and we’ve been sent to odd regions several times while certain programs seem to get special treatment

There's essentially no chance now we won't have a Top 4 protected seed, so Brooklyn is in. We'd have to lose the DePaul and/or Georgetown games and essentially lose everything else to be in danger of falling out of that spot.

Boston is obviously trickier, but I suspect we could be a 1 or 2 seed and get there. If you're breaking down the teams competing for a 1 seed, it looks like this:

Purdue
UConn

Houston

UNC
Kansas
Tennessee

Marquette

I think those are really the only teams that have a shot. Houston has some wiggle room; Purdue and UConn have more. Only UNC would ultimately prefer Boston over other sites.

 

[Rocktheworld]

There's essentially no chance now we won't have a Top 4 protected seed, so Brooklyn is in. We'd have to lose the DePaul and/or Georgetown games and essentially lose everything else to be in danger of falling out of that spot.

Boston is obviously trickier, but I suspect we could be a 1 or 2 seed and get there. If you're breaking down the teams competing for a 1 seed, it looks like this:

Purdue
UConn

Houston

UNC
Kansas
Tennessee

Marquette

I think those are really the only teams that have a shot. Houston has some wiggle room; Purdue and UConn have more. Only UNC would ultimately prefer Boston over other sites.

Yup, as of now it’s looking good.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I personally believe that the path (Brooklyn, Boston) has been ours to lose since early January.

I also believe that if we are given a different path (especially if we are slighted in the process) we'll still be able to march through whoever we need to beat to continue our quest.

This team is beginning to show me something that I haven't seen since 1998-1999; a will to win and a determination to find some way to get it done regardless of what they are facing.