Figured it was time to fire up this thread. News about other games or predictions.
To get started there is news on another ACC squad.
Georgia Tech just took a major blow to their game plan as Moses Wright will miss Georgia Tech's first-round game in NCAA men's basketball tournament, sources say
Wright will also likely be out if Tech beats Loyola Chicago and advances to face the winner of Illinois-Drexel, sources said.
A 6-foot-9 senior big man, Wright was playing as well as anyone in the country over the last few weeks of the regular season. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds against Virginia Tech, followed by 31 points and 16 rebounds against Syracuse, then he went for 29 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in a win over Duke.
Wright has averaged 17.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks per game.
Comments
I already flipped my ESPN bracket to GT losing in round one based on that news. That is a HUGE hit to GT.
Didn't need that to happen to think they'd lose in round 1. Now I just feel more reinforced.
Time for the annual Google search in March of "What channel is Tru TV" except for last year when there was no tournament.
That is hysterical.
People are sleeping on Impractical Jokers if they don't know about TruTv.
Lizard Lick Towing was an awesome reality show - my wife's people (not family... just Eastern NC people)... Only on TruTV
That has to hurt.
Ouch, I don't see him stalking the sidelines tomorrow. But at least he can probably be there for his team.
English is hard. Did he rupture his achilles falling off the bus? Or did he fall off the bus, get up and then rupture his achilles? This is unclear to me
or did he rupture it in a completely unrelated incident before falling off the bus, and just told people that he ruptured his achilles after he fell? I don't know what the subject-verb relationship is anymore. What really happened?
God I love March madness what a good game between drake and wichita state. IT FEELS SO GOOD TO HAVE IT BACK
Wichita had time to get a runner or a pull-up midrange there, shot was on line but short
Ok now that that's out of the way, #rootforchaos
And chaos strikes against Ohio State!
We all wear green tomorrow FAM!
O-hio
Sooo.... we could have been playing Oral Roberts U...
I look at it another way.... better to lose to UF than ORU
You never want to play the country's leading scorer especially in the first round
THE Oral Roberts
Premature Exit: Oral Causes Many Brackets To Bust
Except my one friend that went so far to put money down for that game (and no others)
Could be a lot of very happy Badgers in town tonight, sucks I can't experience the true post game Madison environment
The ACC has looked bad so far. UNC and GT games were not even close.
Big Ten helping take some of that look away.
GT lost their best player so that really hurt them.
Buddy Boheim carrying the ACC to relevance! As for UNC, anytime a team hits like 50% of their threes on good volume you are probably going to win. And against a team like UNC that almost exclusively shoots twos, things can roll downhill quick. I didnt think us or GT looked bad though. Both of us got tough draws. I am interested to see FSU and UVA tomorrow though, FSU in particular. They might bow out quick or they might make a final 4 run.
Purdue geezus. What are you doing?
Proving that the computers overrated the big ten
I don't think this tournament proves anything too definitive
Tournaments never do, but this year was tough on computers due to the lack of inter-connectivity
Pretty sure Winthrop's head coach is also the teams strength and conditioning coach and probably the most ripped coach in D-1
VCU-Oregon canceled and Oregon advances because of COVID protocols.
Yeah, this sucks for VCU as I expected them to win that game
Preston is better then Clark. This could be an interesting game for uva
OSU player receives threats after loss.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/31097748/ohio-st...
Let's go bobcats. Love it.
LOLUVA
The Ohio state University!!!
I feel a little better now than i did yesterday. Fuck UVA!
#GoACC
Seniors at UVA:
Are the only 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed,
Then won a national championship,
Then had a tournament cancelled by a (fingers crossed) once in a century pandemic
Then lost to a 13 seed.
What a weird run they're on.
Wow. Guy who shoots less than 60% at the free throw line sinks two to win it for Abilene Christian, over Texas.
Yikes
I mean.... Yikes!
And this was his mature, senior laden team that had so much experience. Oops
Loving the chaos in this year's tourney. Rankings are worthless this go around even more than normal. Not surprised at all with the ACC teams all struggling though especially UVA, ohio looked comfortable running an offense on their defense all night
Come Loyola, save my braket!
Loyola is not surprising me at all, they are way underseeded. They give me 2017 Wisconsin or 2014 Kentucky vibes. It's completely unfair to the top seeds to underseed these really good teams from 7 to ten. They shouldn't have to play these teams until the second weekend, they've earned that right by being a top 2 seed.
Loyola was KenPoms #1 defensive team and finished the year in the top 10 overall. Krutwig was his third best player and a 3rd team All American. They're #10 in NET which the committee is supposed to use for seeding teams. The other 8 seeds in this tournament? 28, 32, & 36.
The Fighting Sister Jean's are about to ruin a whole bunch of brackets. Mine would be included in that if it weren't already ruined.
I'm gonna be furious if Syracuse comes out of the Midwest
Never ever ever pick a big 10 team to win - it's been 20 years since they've won for a reason. I fell into the Illinois trap this year, but I will resume my philosophy of picking against that overrated conference.
The big 10 just does not have the elite guardplay that can win in March, as usual. Everyone hypes the big 10, but they tend to fall apart in March, because they don't have the guards that you need to win in the tournament. It's the guards, not the bigs, that win in March.
That's also why all the casuals who want VT to become this massive team reliant on big men need a reality check. As great as Aluma is (and I'm glad we have him), if we won 2 days ago, it would have been entirely because of Alleyne and Radford. Because in March, you need players who can create from the perimeter.
I largely agree with your take on guard play and fully endorse your take on the big10. I had Illinois and ohio state out before the sweet 16. I also picked the Purdue upset... however, it was Loyola's big man that won that game today, not their guards.
I disagree on what won the game today. Having a skilled big who can pass is super valuable for sure. But look at the guard play:
- Illinois guards turned the ball over 16 times. Loyola guards turned the ball over only 6 times. That's the whole game.
- Loyola guards scored 47 points. Illinois guards scored 35 points. Again, that's the whole game. That's the deciding point difference, give or take a point.
Kofi Cockburn put up stats too that roughly cancelled out Krutwig. To me, the difference in the game was primarily on the perimeter, as is usually the case.
Edit: Also, I went against my anti-big10 logic and picked Illinois this year... Last time I picked a big10 champ was Michigan State when they lost in the 1st round to MTSU. I will never ever pick a big10 champ again, mark my words. I have no idea why I did that this year, so stupid of me
My rule has typically been have a big 10 in the final four and maybe 2 in the elite 8 but avoid having them in the championship game and certainly not winning. This year I went with Iowa in the elite 8 and nobody in the final four... usually I won't move Gonzaga out of the elite 8 but this year I have them losing to Baylor. Based on this advice you'd think I'd have a good bracket this year but I'm still all busted up.
Edit: just to add Wisconsin and Michigan State have typically been my favorite Big 10 tourny teams but I've been cold on MSU since the MTSU game and Wiscy just hasn't been that good for a while.
Baylor Mullet alert in Indy
Syracuse moving on. Never would have thought they would be the only one left with Florida State from the ACC
Wow...may have been premature. 11 point lead now a four point lead with 40 seconds left.
Crisis Orange resolved. They tried to lose this one for sure.
UVA and WVU losing, makes this weekend alright
Syracuse is a great March team. They always limp into the tourney however they play an incredibly difficult brand of D that you can't simply prepare for and they always seem to have some kid who nails a ton of three's.
I always pick the Orange to make a little run in my bracket.
If Boeheim and Girard want to continue to go nuclear they will go to the elite 8 haha.
Syracuse is a mediocre team every year that plays one of the easiest non-conference schedules and flounders through conference play with the most frustratingly boring style, gets a bubble bid, then falls ass backwards into the Sweet Sixteen. Get them the fuck out of my face.
I understand why we didn't land Mac McClung, but why were we never even in consideration for him either out of high school or as a transfer? His parents both went to VT.
No one thought he would play at this high of level. I think it's still a bit questionable how much he impacts winning basketball vs piling up stats.
Nobody thought he would be a good player so he started at two different power conference teams. So crazy!!!
He wasn't an OKG so Buzz wasn't going to recruit him
So it's clear that the Gator's kryptonite is a guard who can make his way through the defense and get to the rim.
Ehem...
Haha... As I'm watching the game I distinctly remember this part of your pre-game write up.
This Oral Robert's UF game is crazy.
Bye Florida!
Florida leaving Indy with a pretty bad taste in their mouth...
Alright... I hate to say it... but without Cone, Oral Roberts probably would have beat us too. I think they are legit good... some other 15 seeds have won but none have looked particularly good like this team does. They may not win another game, but they don't look out of place like Hampton, Lehigh, MTSU or FGCU did.
FGCU destroyed two teams on their way to the Sweet Sixteen
Weren't they both single digit wins? I just remember thinking FGCU got some lucky breaks, unforced error type turnovers, that led to a lot of transition points and dunks and let them steal a lot of momentum. I could be off but I remember watching those games thinking they were upsets where the better team didn't win. Watching ORU I haven't felt that...
Not to take anything away from FGCU I loved that run they made.
Edit: I just rechecked the box scores... both were actually 10 point wins and in each they had HUGE second half runs like 24-2 vs. Georgetown and 17-0 vs. SDST. I remember better now... they were a ton of fun to watch but those runs felt more like luck and momentum to me than a true representation of the quality of the teams. ORU just beat OSU and Florida. They didn't feel like they got huge and unexplainable momentum swings or that OSU and Florida played bad games. Its probably just me but ORU feels more like a legit team than FGCU did.
OSU has been up and down the past month and Florida isn't that great imo, ORU squeaked past both. FGCU to me seemed like the best team on the floor in both it's games by a mile. Abmas and Obanor may be better players but I think FGCU was a much better team. Those big runs weren't accidents. But agree to disagree, just want to make sure we're not misrepresenting what FGCU did.
Yea I am sure I'm misremembering a bit but I also imagine their 50 point stinker in the sweet 16 just reinforced whatever impression I had of them being straight up lucky to put up 54 in a half vs sdst. They definitely deserve props for what they did. I agree OSU was overrated and Florida isnt great ( I liked our draw, really thought we could be in the 16) but ORU looked better than both in their games and not just lucky to win. Ofcourse they could get destroyed next week and it could redefine how I'd remember them 8 years from now.
I'm feeling pretty justified in thinking ORU was the best 15 seed of all time... I really think they should have been the first 15 to the elite 8. Seemed like the officiating was pretty good but ORU probably deserved a few more free throws down the stretch. That dude that fumbled an easy layup out of bounds with about a minute and a half must feel awful. And I really thought that last three was down when it came out of Abmas's hands.
Better than any 13 or 14 seed that I've seen too. They're just a good team.
Didn't watch the game, but yeah you might have
Looking at my bracket, I may as well have picked winners based on what jerseys I like best, sheesh
At this point, personally, I'm pulling for a Ohio vs Abilene Christian and Oral Roberts vs Loyola Chicago final four.
By god the number of and ones and fouls called in the oregon iowa game is ridiculous
I am a little giddy about all the Big Ten teams losing.
Iowa got manhandled yesterday and it really wasnt close, even Garza struggled in the second half and you could see his confidence fade quickly.
Major conference sweet sixteen team count
Pac 12 - 4
ACC - 2
SEC - 2
Big East - 2
Big 12 - 1
Big 10 - 1
Pac 12 overachieved they haven't been this good in years
Arkansas had to go and ruin the fun damn razorbacks
Does one have to be bald to work for UCLA?
Alabama with a clutch three from not far off half court to send it to OT what a shot and proof you foul right there always.
Both of my brackets wish they had made one more clutch FT in regulation instead of shooting under 50% from the line...
Alabama looked like they had gotten free throw lessons from Shaq in pre-game
Unfortunately spot on haha. Obviously there will always be variance in shooting %'s from game to game, but a 75% from the line team shooting under 50% with that many opportunities is truly baffling to me.
This is a myth put forth by all the TV analysts. Back in 2013, Ken Pomeroy analyzed the data and found that teams who defended instead of fouling had a slightly higher win percentage. His findings pretty much supported John Ezekowitz's 2010 piece.
I'm not sure if there's a more recent comprehensive study, but I find it hard to believe it's changed much. I would never foul in that situation, it only gives the opposing team more chances to win.
In the context of last night's game though, Alabama was more likely to hit a single three to tie the game instead of sinking three FTs in a row.
I think that's a rather baseless claim, it depends on the shooter and how good of a look from 3.
Also, as Pomeroy said,
Lots of cases of an extra possession for the trailing team, opening up more possibilities (i.e. make the first, miss the 2nd -> tip out for 3, and one on the follow, tip in for OT, etc.)
Again quoting Pomeroy
I'm not going to argue stats but solely in reference to last nights game Alabama couldnt hit the broadside of a barn if they were leaning up against the wall. In that case it wasnt just one or two players the whole team looked inept so for me a simple foul on the runner before the shot wouldve been my call.
Agree to disagree. I never want to move the team closer to the basket where they can get putbacks and tip-ins even if they miss.
Wow, just switched on the final Sweet 16 game and hadn't realized that the Martians had made the Sweet 16.
Oh wait, it's just Oregon
Oregon down 15 with 8 minutes to go, hasn't been close all game. Think the Martians would have put up a better battle and been easier on the eyes too.
For all the upsets this tourney, very likely we end up with 3 #1 seeds and a #2 in the Final Four
Seeds 3-5 (and some of the 2's) were incredibly weak this year. The 1 seeds + Houston are all pretty good.
This season the #1 seeds were significantly better/more consistent all season than anyone else on the top 4 lines, absolutely. Although Illinois (and the Big Ten in general) may have in fact looked better due to lack of OOC schedules really this year. But Michigan is clearly a good squad.
I think Alabama was a pretty strong #2, and in some years may have been a 1. Houston on the other hand I pegged as the weakest #2, but what do I know. They can make it to the Final Four playing a 15/10/11/12. Not their fault who they play of course, but they struggled this season against stronger opponents, and have not had to play any to this point.
It was painful to watch FSU do what they normally do in March. I really like Leonard Hamilton and I'd love to see him make a run before he retires - he deserves it.
However, as good of a recruiter and motivator as he is he is an equally poor X's and O's coach. He simply cannot strategize at all.
That team was a bit overrated (mostly since the ACC was poor this year), their PG play all year was pretty poor. Tough to beat top teams when your point guards can't shoot and can't stop turning it over.
I will say, it's early to say, but that team will probably be the preseason favorite in the ACC and preseason top 10ish. Basically only lose Walker and Barnes and they bring in 2 five stars and the preseason player of the year in the AAC transferred in.
And they'll likely do the very same thing they've always done - lose in March.
I mean true, but every team but one does. They've gone to three straight sweet 16s, would have been a 2 seed last year, and their best team in that stretch had critical injuries in March. I don't understand the hate on the guy as someone who rolls the ball out there when he accomplishes all this at FSU haha.
Don't get me wrong, I love Leonard Hamilton. I really want him to make a deep run. He just hasn't been able to do it and it's not because of a lack of talent.
I hate this new TV schedule for the tournament. I didn't help that our Hokies got bounced in the very first game, but I'm still watching significantly less of this tournament compared to past years, and I'm pretty sure its because of the shift from a Thu-Sun format to this crappy Sat-Tue. Is the 2nd Elite 8 game really, really going to start at 10PM eastern?
The tip time for the Baylor Arkansas game is ridiculous. I don't get why they didn't do it at 7 and 9 like they do for the regular season. Seen a lot of people in the media pushing for this to stay too.
The viewership numbers will dictate. If it gets more eyeballs, it will stay. I will say this, if they go away from the Thurs-Sun schedule. I would rather see a Fri-Mon schedule like they did for the first weekend this year.
I'll be interested to see the numbers but I know most of the people I work with that usually watch all didnt watch due to the time slot.
NO MORE BIG TEN WOO
All that and there's still four 1s in the Final Four.
There just also happens to be a 2
Gonzaga looks unstoppable. They had one of their worst offensive performances and still dominated. USC led the nation in blocks and didn't get a single one. Just ridiculous. No one else has looked so thoroughly impressive.
I clearly didn't know what I was talking about when i said they would get bounced in the first weekend. They haven't had a game that was competitive in the 2nd half, and the most "uncomfortable" any lead got looks like ... [checks scores] when OU was within 9 points with just over a minute to go in the game. I dont expect the game against UCLA will be within reach by half-way through the 2nd half.
UCLA has certainly had a hell of a run, but I fully expect Gonzaga to bury them. The Zags are just that good.
They are a historically great team, and I am really rooting for them to finish it off. How cool would it be for Mark Few to finally get a title, and be the first team since 75-76 Indiana to go undefeated, and actually do it in Indiana? Thats a feel good sports story.
Fun note: That undefeated Hoosiers team also had to play and beat UCLA in the Final Four
I have a few friends that are big UCLA fans and even they have no idea how the Bruins are winning these games, so with that said, expect them to beat Gonzaga on Saturday.
One thing is for sure, they are the champions of the state of Michigan
Samsonite...I was way off
I totally wanna say I told you so. So I will: I told you so!
Sounds like last nights late game was a good one, shame it started so damn late but since I havent gotten to watch as much this year I'm not to vested anyway just bums me out that they are putting big games like this so late in the evening.
Gonzaga is playing some beautiful team basketball this tournament. I just crunched the box scores of the Final Four teams' Assist:FG ratio throughout the tournament-
Gonzaga: (83 Assists, 129 FGs) = 64%
Houston: (55 Assists, 94 FGs) = 59%
Baylor: (57 Assists, 112 FGs) = 51%
UCLA: (60 Assists, 131 FGs) = 46% [[includes the extra game against Michigan State]]
I am only surprised by the Gonzaga total baskets being so low.
I really feel like the 15 points I gave to Gonzaga in the championship game isnt enough.
I not old enough to have watched most of the other teams that are thought of to be the best of all time, but Gonzaga has to be up there right? No one looks like they can even get close to them.
There's no question Gonzaga is the best overall performing team in this tournament. My chaos-craving brain, however, is wondering what would happen if Gonzaga beats UCLA, but then has several positive tests. Does the tournament end with Baylor/Houston winning the tournament or do they delay?
At this point I think they'll play all three games regardless, even if they have to postpone
Soooo Roy Williams may be retiring or it's the worst April's Fools joke by UNC.
They could've made it a lot better if they included that they also named their new coach (Woy Rilliams or something). Right now everyone assumes a joke, but like he's old.
Edit: It might actually be real? There's a very legitimate press release. Why would you announce this on April 1st if it is real.
Edit2: looks to be official.
ESPN is confirming.
This just made Coach Watch a hell of a lot more interesting this season
I'm very intrigued to see who they start looking at as replacements. Also makes some of the UNC transfers make sense as to why they want to leave.
If Roy retiring is actually true, what a PR disaster. It's basically downplaying accomplishments. This would be Pete-level stupid.
And to do it today of all days. Wait til tomorrow if it's not a joke.
It would be a shame if UNC fucked this up like they did with Matt Doherty. You know they are going to target someone who is directly tied to UNC. Not really sure who that could be right now.
They want MJ!
Hubert Davis has been under Roy for a few years and definitely has UNC connections.......
Final Four game #1 is a snoozefest and I don't expect game #2 to be any better. The championship game should be great though.
UCLA-Gonzaga has been a good game. I spoke too soon!
Atleast UCLA is making this game interesting in the first half
Refs are getting a bit too involved in this game for my liking.
Def agree there but how UCLA didn't target Timme in OT and try to get him fouled out was surprising to me
What an awful final play in regulation by UCLA to win the game with a timeout in hand. They deserve to lose for timecop levels of piss poor coaching.
Wow, what an ending to that game!! 😱❤️🏀
Wow.
How awesome would it have been if that stadium had been full of fans.
What a game, UCLA seemed to forget to defend the 3 there or that they thought the OT was over already. Hell of a game but UCLA had their chances to win it and couldn't make the shot but still played their asses off.
Incredible game.
Curious to see how fatigue plays a factor in the championship game. Gonzaga had some guys looking banged up a bit tonight plus OT and while I didn't pay attention to all of the Baylor-Houston game, it appears Baylor relatively cruised to victory.
I'm really hype right now from that Suggs shot. Holy Gonzaga!
Great Mick Cronin quotes from when they were struggling last season. He's done great things with that squad. It's such a shame that they lost yesterday, those guys are fun to watch and it would have been a legendary upset. At least they gave us one of the best games ever.
Man I was pissed the tip was so late but if baylor keep it up we won't need to watch the second half cause gonzaga plays no defense
I know three people that turned the game off as Baylor was getting away with murder.
Even with them sneaking back to within 10 by halftime I didnt feel Gonzaga could lock it down enough to truly have a shot they just couldnt keep baylor off the glass and from getting their shots. Kudos to baylor they were lights out good but gotta say this was a disappointing final.
Did not watch a lot, but when I was watching, it was obvious why they couldn't keep Baylor off the boards. The refs were letting them pitch a tent and camp out in the paint.
I found it interesting that Baylor at points ran 4 guards (that could all shoot and rebound) in the lineup. Despite that size disadvantage, they were ferocious on the defensive side of the ball.
Scoring guards (they scored 71/86 points) with a couple versatile bigs who can pull down boards and play great defense. Plus good bench players. There's your recipe to win in college basketball in the modern game. Baylor's roster was perfect this year imo
Maybe Buzz was on to something...ducks....LOL
I like Buzz's style and he was not far off, especially his final VT year where we had final 4 potential.
But Baylor has it perfect. Their 4 leading scorers are all generally athletic, scoring guards, who can shoot. Their 5th leading scorer is a G/F who can shoot. (all 5 shoot >39% from 3 and have good athleticism and/or length). Then their 3 big men are only their 6th-8th leading scorers, but they are key to their defense and rebounding.
Baylor has shown once again that you don't want to play through big men in 2021. You need athletic, scoring guards. You still need dynamic bigs who can get boards and play defense, but in March when the defense is locked in, it's hard to play through the post. The games are usually won by the teams with the best perimeter scoring.