College Basketball

[Ohwell]

Also, I know they like to talk about Zion's dunking, but there's a kid shorter than he is, whose last name I think is Morant, who did a flying dunk that put Zion's dunks to shame.  They're saying this kid might go #2 in the draft, but you don't hear that much about him.  Maybe they will during the tournament.

[Minneapple]

Maybe the announcers should mention how Zion's dad is on tape asking for money and a house. HAHAHA just kidding they'll never mention that. HE TOTALLY WENT TO DUKE FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME!

I love how the NCAA turned everything upside down with the NET rankings and the quadrants instead of the RPI...and there remains so much bitching about the bracket. Same shit, different sandwich!

Edited March 18, 2019 by Minneapple

[Carey]

On 3/17/2019 at 10:19 PM, AimingforYoko said:

I'm so torn. Zion Williamson is ridiculously fun, but Dukies are like Patriots fans, and I hate to see them happy. What to do, what to do... 

Funny you mention the Pats.  Similar to the two, for me the "hate" has died down and it's more of respect while saying "Man, that team does it again!"

Zion won't be back next year, but the Blue Devils look to be positioned to win in four different decades and being relevant in five.

It's the First Four segment of March Madness. Not really feeling the play-in 16 seed games. Personally, it sucks that a conference winner may end of losing before the real fun starts Thursday at noon.  While it sucks for Temple, they were in a "fight-for-it" play in game where prior to 2011 they might have missed the dance by one.  As a result, those play-in 11 seed games are more watchable IMO

[mojoween]

On 3/17/2019 at 10:19 PM, AimingforYoko said:

I'm so torn. Zion Williamson is ridiculously fun, but Dukies are like Patriots fans, and I hate to see them happy. What to do, what to do...

But I really am a very nice person and nothing at all like a Pats fan!

I am curious about Ja Morant.  He’s a projected lottery pick which I assume they knew when he was in high school.  So how did he end up at Murray State and not a Big Six school?

[Minneapple]

This is Ja Morant's second year in college. He didn't get any interest from high major schools and wasn't a projected lottery pick until recently.

[mojoween]

18 hours ago, Minneapple said:

This is Ja Morant's second year in college. He didn't get any interest from high major schools and wasn't a projected lottery pick until recently.

Ohhhhh.  Well good for him!  How awesome for him to take his time in college to improve and increase his visibility.

[Minneapple]

45 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Ohhhhh.  Well good for him!  How awesome for him to take his time in college to improve and increase his visibility.

I think it's more about him not being a projected lottery pick until this year.

Edited March 21, 2019 by Minneapple

[AimingforYoko]

I actually picked both double-digit seeds today. Gophers for homer reasons and Murray State because they had the best player on the floor.

[Carey]

39 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

I actually picked both double-digit seeds today. Gophers for homer reasons and Murray State because they had the best player on the floor.

Sorta wished I did, as I would have been 8-0 for the day (which means nothing by the weekend unless most of my picks hold at the very least)

[Ohwell]

I must say, Ja Morant is exciting to watch.  

[mojoween]

He sure is, but holy hell could the announcer dude have said his name any more in the last ten minutes of the game?

I’ve been watching the tourney for well over 30 years, and yet the thought of Draymond Green in it still baffles me.  I am aware he went to college, I just can’t actually PICTURE him there.

[Ohwell]

33 minutes ago, mojoween said:

He sure is, but holy hell could the announcer dude have said his name any more in the last ten minutes of the game?

But just wait until Zion starts playing.  You ain't seen nuthin yet. 

[mojoween]

Well yeah, but I stan Zion so I'm cool with that, heh.

Someone leaked ESPN’s bracket and every slot said Zion.

[Ohwell]

I'm sure Zion's a nice kid but I'm sick of hearing about him.  I only started hearing about Morant about a week ago.

[ganesh]

My first take is that the quality of the games is better than last year. Not tons of whistles and good flows to the games. 

[xaxat]

I miss the old days when they still had west coast prime time starts and the first round slate would run past 2 am in the east.

(Although I'm now old enough there is no way I would be able to stay up that late and watch.)

[Minneapple]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

My first take is that the quality of the games is better than last year. Not tons of whistles and good flows to the games. 

But holy good God have there been some stupid plays. Note the end of the New Mexico State-Auburn game when the NMSU player gave up an open two to kick out for a three. Or the end of the Belmont-Maryland game when the Belmont player dribbled into no-man's land and then made an idiotic pass right to a Maryland player.

[xaxat]

So I just saw an ad for the women's tournament. And up pops Kobe Bryant in the promo.

On so many levels, why??

[AimingforYoko]

17 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I'm sure Zion's a nice kid but I'm sick of hearing about him.

Well. then maybe this isn't for you.

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

Well. then maybe this isn't for you.

Well then, I'll just watch another game.

[galaxygirl76]

Holy crap, Iowa won their first game! My friend said she was the only one who had them winning their first game in the bracket they do at her work and she only picked them out of loyalty.

Iowa women won too but that's much less of a surprise.

[AimingforYoko]

Throats may be a little tight right now in Wahoo country.

[ketchuplover]

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Zion v. Tacko! Reinforce your screens!

[Ohwell]

Tacko's legs are so long that he doesn't even have to run up and down the court, he just takes long strides, lol.  That should be an interesting matchup with Zion.

Team Tacko!

[xaxat]

Congrats CBS! You managed to take the one Duke player fans outside of Durham have come to like and ruined it with your stupid overkill Zion Cam.

ETA Is LSU's interim coach going to Steve Fisher his way into the permanent gig?

Edited March 23, 2019 by xaxat

[ganesh]

UCF is a better game than I thought it was going to be. They were hanging in there for most of the 1st half and really only made a couple of bad shot choices and turnovers.

[ganesh]

Someone needs to tell UCF to box out. 

[Ohwell]

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

[ganesh]

Coach K knows he got away with one. 

[Ohwell]

I'm so pissed about Duke winning, I just ripped up my bracket sheet.  Dammit to hell.

[ketchuplover]

Zion goofs by going for 2 when they're down 3 and Tacko goofs by trying to stop him. SIGH

[DarkRaichu]

My team was out.  Time to not give a f**k about the Tourney until next year 😄 😄 😄

[xaxat]

It's kind of exciting to have a women's tournament where it isn't UConn vs the field. 

(And it looks like ESPN isn't featuring Kobe on their tournament ads any more. Who thought that was a good idea?)

[AimingforYoko]

Man, Charles is just going to be insufferable, isn't he?

[mojoween]

I was rooting for TBS to put a Charles cam in the corner of the screen towards the end of the game.

Damnit Houston.  You were so close.

[Ohwell]

I tore up my bracket sheet when Duke got that 1 point win.  Then, later on I relented and printed out the Sweet 16 bracket sheet for a fresh start.  Then Duke ekes out a 2 point win.  I tore up that sheet last night.  I give up.  I don't care who wins it all as long as it's not Duke.

[ganesh]

It's amazing how Duke is supposed to be so good but seemingly is winning because opponents can't finish. 

[mojoween]

A win’s a win!  As long as your score is just one point more it’s all gravy.

Ohwell if you could print an Elite Eight bracket that would be great.  You seem to be a good luck charm, heh. 

[Ohwell]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

A win’s a win!  As long as your score is just one point more it’s all gravy.

Ohwell if you could print an Elite Eight bracket that would be great.  You seem to be a good luck charm, heh. 

Naw I'm done with brackets.  Like I said, I'm fine with whoever wins--except Duke. 

[LexieLily]

That Purdue/Virginia game was insane. 

[Minneapple]

So happy for Tony Bennett, especially after the way Virginia's season ended last year. Congrats to the Cavs.

[vb68]

I love to watch the UVA squad. They really do seem like a "team" to me. Different people step up at different times. And I can't help it, but the little guy Clark is adorable.

That shot to send it into OT. Wow.

[mojoween]

I’m sad for Purdue because - and I’m probably going to butcher this but I think this is his name? - Carsen Edwards put everything he had out there.  That last turnover was a gutpunch.

Also it was amusing to see 957 shots of Tyler Eifert and his dad celebrating.

[Ohwell]

I'm so happy for Virginia, especially after last year's debacle.  It was also nice to see Ralph Sampson in the stands.  He looked like he was near tears when they won.

[Minneapple]

23 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I'm so happy for Virginia, especially after last year's debacle.  It was also nice to see Ralph Sampson in the stands.  He looked like he was near tears when they won.

I was amused by Dick Bennett (Tony's father) in the stands. When he coached at Wisconsin, Dick would get really stressed out during games. Like to the point where the fans were worried about his health. He has said he has a hard time watching Virginia games because he gets so stressed out. But he was there during Virginia's Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games, and they kept showing him in the stands. It looked like he wanted to shove everyone aside and take over coaching duties from Tony.

In a "mildly interesting fact", 19 years ago Dick Bennett's Wisconsin team defeated Gene Keady's Purdue team in the Boilers' last trip the Elite 8. Tony was on the staff of that Wisconsin team.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Minneapple

[Ohwell]

Speaking of head coaches, I didn't know anything about Bruce Pearl of Auburn until the tournament.  When I saw him raging on the sidelines, I thought for sure he was going to have a heart attack and fall out onto the court .  Then I googled him and found some, shall we say, unflattering articles about him.  All I know is, he always looks like he's one second away from exploding.

[Minneapple]

TBH there are/were some real slimeball coaches in this tournament. Kelvin Sampson, Bruce Pearl. The standard joke on other college basketball message boards is that it doesn't matter what Auburn does, it will be vacated anyway in a couple years. 

I'll include Coach K on the slimeball list. Now he's whining about what happens if the NBA does away with the one and done rule. Sorry your relatively new gravy train is going to go away. At least Calipari never pretends to be something he's not.

The Purdue/Virginia game was nice because it involved two coaches who are clean as a whistle. Matt Painter and Tony Bennett are among a handful of coaches who really do things the right way. 

[Calvada]

7 hours ago, Minneapple said:

I was amused by Dick Bennett (Tony's father) in the stands. When he coached at Wisconsin, Dick would get really stressed out during games. Like to the point where the fans were worried about his health. He has said he has a hard time watching Virginia games because he gets so stressed out. But he was there during Virginia's Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games, and they kept showing him in the stands. It looked like he wanted to shove everyone aside and take over coaching duties from Tony.

In a "mildly interesting fact", 19 years ago Dick Bennett's Wisconsin team defeated Gene Keady's Purdue team in the Boilers' last trip the Elite 8. Tony was on the staff of that Wisconsin team.

I too am very happy for Tony Bennett, and relieved that DIck Bennett was there to see it.  And yes, I've always worried that Dick would keel over during a game, both when he was coaching and while watching Tony's team. He had stopped attending games because he would get so stressed.  I saw a interview Dick did with Andy Katz after this game, when he said he thought it was very important to be there, that if the Virginia team had the resiliency to come back from what happened last year, he should be there to support them.  

The Wisconsin basketball program and some affiliated with it have been tweeting their congratulations to Tony, Dick, and Brad Soderberg.  That's what is fun about March Madness, you can always find a team, a coach, or a player to root for, even when your team gets bounced in the first round.  

[Growsonwalls]

Holy shit, that was a sudden exit for Duke. 

[ganesh]

Finally. jfc. They had no business getting out of the second round.