College Basketball

[Carey]

17 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Someone needs rehab. 

Well, help has always been available.  Probably easier not to seek it if the consequences for past actions aren't definitive enough.  The guy is 3 times the age of a grown adult.  He has a right to make the decision not to be better; too bad for him he instead chose to make a bad decision.

14 hours ago, mojoween said:

.21 for a man his size is ridiculous.

TBH, .21 is ridiculous, period.  For anyone, man or woman.  Bob Huggins was making close to 10 Grand a day.  People making $1,000 every 24 hours can take an Uber or Lyft all the time (or everyday) if they wanted to.

I read a tweet on Saturday about someone "scolding" his readers or whatever he was doing about how it wasn't cool to laugh here.  I didn't even see it; laughing never happened nor crossed my mind.  I was too disappointed that the coach made the decision to be in this position (after already being in trouble).  Not once did I think to laugh; the tweeter was spot on though due to tragic nature of the behavior Bob displayed.  I took it as people laughing at Huggins, and not drinking & driving.  As mentioned, he's a grown man, and conducted himself in a way that's the opposite of that.

[mojoween]

TIL that part of the reason Bob Huggins left Cincinnati was … a DUI.  I hope he gets the help he needs.

[woodstock]

Cancer Sucks!

Dick Vitale diagnosed with cancer again😔

[mojoween]

I can’t imagine what Jim Boeheim is going to do for ESPN, but I am picturing what that lack of charisma is going to look like onscreen.

[Carey]

I had to double check to make sure that he wasn't joining Gameday, but even if he was, it'll probably be similar to when Bob Knight joined earlier in the series.  Okay, not great, but not a big deal since everyone else was good enough that people could ignore it.

As I (and several others) assumed, Jay Williams is filing the void with his return there following a 4-year absence while covering the NBA

[mojoween]

My mom passed away this year at 83, but she was sick for a long time.  It really felt like Bobby Knight was going to live forever.

[Salacious Kitty]

6 minutes ago, mojoween said:

My mom passed away this year at 83, but she was sick for a long time.  It really felt like Bobby Knight was going to live forever.

We haven't seen Bobby out in public in several years. I'm thinking dementia. 

[Carey]

Reposting in the correct thread (expected someone to post about the coach but didn't see anything.  Except the unread content was CFB, not CBB

 

ESPN Story On Bob Knight

 

Edited to add: As mentioned, we're not going to see anyone like him in the game.  The questionable stuff was what it was, but it's great when you can separate whatever with the accomplishments.

Likely the last person to coach an undefeated season for the rest of my life, or for over the next half century.  Whichever is longer. RIP.

Edited November 2, 2023 by Carey
Updating Content

[DrSpaceman73]

4 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

We haven't seen Bobby out in public in several years. I'm thinking dementia. 

Oh he definitely had dementia.  He has been around bloomington and the indiana team the last few years since Mike Woodson took over and just from news reports pretty obvious he'd been suffering from dementia for several years. I guess it's not been national news but state and local news in indiana has reported on him quite a few times. 

I figured he didn't have long to live wasn't surprised by the announcement have been expecting it the last year or so. 

[mojoween]

I put the Duke game on ESPN on the drive home and they played an ad that said that the ACC has six of the top 30 winningest programs in NCAA history and I can only come up with three off the top of my head - Duke, UNC, SU.  Then … ?  NC State, maybe?  Eventually I’ll get around to looking up the answer.

[mojoween]

Love those Louisiana kids having to come up here during our first snowstorm.

Does anyone know what happened to the ACC/Big Ten Challenge?  Did a contract run out and they just decided not to renew?

Edited November 29, 2023 by mojoween

[Carey]

The Big Ten / ACC Challenge was done away simultaneous to ESPN losing its rights to the Big Ten.  To make up for its demise, we're now getting the SEC / ACC Challenge starting this season.

Probably for the better I suppose, thanks to the Big Ten expanding to 36 teams.  Not really (actually those conferences will still have the same number of teams in 2024)

[Carey]

I have Ohio State & North Carolina winning the CBS Sports Classic this year. I'll go under 132.5 & over 165.5.  So that means the opposite will occur, though UCLA and Kentucky are both pretty good

[mojoween]

Not this Duke fan tearing up after finding out that Carolina’s announcer called last night’s game next to an empty chair as a tribute to Eric Montross.  When they showed the picture of the flowers on the desk I think it was the solo wrapped candy that got me.

[Carey]

RIP Lefty.

 

The Hoops version for College Gameday did pay tribute to HOF Coach Driesell.

Before I get to one of the 2 members of that program that's been there since Day One, I have to say that while I tend to focus on the Men's side over the Women's side, hats off to Caitlin Clark & what she's done really prior to this season, but definitely this season.  Nice to see some continuity in that (side of the) sport.

Somewhat related, Bueckers, who came into the league the same time as Clark (I think), will return next season.  Probably a great idea.

 

Here's Jay Bilas' forecast for the Top 68 teams as of current time.

 

With Selection Sunday 4 weeks from tomorrow (as of this post), CBS is slated to release the Top 16 and possibly the field of 64/68 (if the Selection Show were to be held today instead of 29 days from now).  That's in about a couple of hours

[Crashcourse]

I remember watching Maryland play and looking forward to the "Lefty stomp" when he was mad at the refs. 😅

RIP, Lefty.  

[Carey]

If the selection show were to take place in present time, Purdue, Connecticut, Houston, & Arizona would be your top seeds in whatever region is out there (excluding the North but including the Midwest).  Might only be a matter of time before the champs jump over the Big 10 powerhouse, but maybe not.

Here's a report from CBS Sports as it relates to Saturday's Preview Show.

As I was getting that link, apparently the super conferences of 2024 and beyond (courtesy of football & the Pacific 12) aren't super enough to move beyond having 15 teams in their respective conference tournament.  Those have value since you could be winless, win the tournament, and get into the NCAA Tournament.  So I was upset for a minute.  However, adding value to the regular season should mean something.  If you're 11th or worse as a seed, you probably don't belong in the Dance.  Sure things can hinder someone, but 9th or 10th place following a late, great run is reasonable enough.

[mojoween]

Rick Pitino sounds like such an asshole.  If you hate it so much, leave.

Public humiliation is NOT going to motivate your players, jerk.

[BuckeyeLou]

Congrats to Caitlin Clark of Iowa for breaking the record All time scoring baskets, beating Pete Maravich who set the record over 50 years ago.  We were watching the game since Iowa was playing my alma mater, tOSU, an exciting game !

[Carey]

I can't believe we're in the home stretch in terms of college basketball.  Though I probably should believe since I was getting ready to fill out a bracket this time 52 weeks ago.  Instead, there are still 68 spots to address before March 18.  At least a couple of them will be addressed if they have been addressed already.

 

With about 7 days to go, the most recent rankings include Houston, Connecticut, Purdue, North Carolina, & Tennessee rounding out the Top 5 within the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll.  During Championship Week in College Football, the care for an AP poll isn't really there, but in College Hoops there isn't a CFB Playoff Rankings.  Instead, my go-to people include Joe Lunardi & Jerry Palm & the Bracketology.

There will be a committee choosing the teams, but the daily updates from those two mentioned above & others are rather interesting.  For what it's worth, Jerry and Joe both have Purdue as their Top overall seed, and North Carolina as a 2 seed amongst those AP Top 5.  So UNC winning the ACC Tournament probably will change nothing.

The fifth & sixth bids in the 2024 Men's NCAA Tournament will be decided tonight.  Well, TBH, people know of several teams that will be dancing in a week, but none of them are official until Sunday (03.17.24) unless they win their conference tournament in advance.  Basically the teams whose tournament finals are early in the week will have to win their game if they want to be one of 68 teams vying for the 2024 National Championship.

By the way, there has been some talk about expansion.  If so, that's great.  It's not a super big deal unless 4 of the non-power conference winners get to bypass a date in Dayton in advance of the tournament proper.  Overall, expansion of anything isn't very good early on, but then I can respect & adapt in the long run.  Given the new super conferences, I think it might be necessary going forward.

I forgot to mention elsewhere that Morehead State, Longwood, Drake, and Stenson became 4 of the 72 teams with a chance at becoming the College Basketball National Champion prior to the expansion of big leagues such as the ACC, Big Ten, and the SEC

[Salacious Kitty]

So if they have UNC on the 2 line, who slots in as the 4th team on the 1 line? Tennessee?

[Carey]

18 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

So if they have UNC on the 2 line, who slots in as the 4th team on the 1 line? Tennessee?

Yep.  It's Tennessee.  TBH, I don't even think North Carolina is the best among the 2 seeds.  IOW, I don't think Jerry & Joe think they're the best.  That might be Arizona.

On a separate note for the most part....well it's a separate note in terms of on-court action.  Dealing with the voice & faces of CBS Sports.

 

No Greg Gumbel for this year's action.  This comes a year (more or less) after Jim Nantz calling it quits, and around the time Verne Lundquist, who used to do some decent games, made his final CBS work official (calling action from the 16th at Augusta one final time next month).

For those who may or may not know, the ESPN original (an EPSN original) in Greg didn't show up for last month's bracket preview, a spot where he makes his first appearance for the sport.  On one hand you'd think he'd have more time to show up since he no longer calls NFL games.  OTOH, give Adam Zucker some reps since that's the future.  He has done some stuff with Kenny & Charles rather recently.  Helps that Clark is present.

Following his absence this weekend, I speculated that rather than pull a Nantz (show up at the 11th hour), he might call it quits.  That might be the best bet, but for this year, you couldn't bet since it's no longer "on the board" with Richard Deitsch addressing the news.

One typically doesn't watch sports to see the people calling the games or the studio hosts analyzing them.  For me, I'm probably going to see a shakeup with the CBS team for the NFL before next season starts (and possibly FOX a year from now).  To be fair, it makes it easier to just watch the games, but...

...as mentioned with the sadness of Nantz calling it quits, I feel that with Gumbel.  I get it if/when it's the choice of the star or if there's an issue.  It's just unfortunate when someone you tuned into since Day One or for the past 40 years isn't on television anymore.

[mojoween]

No what?  I love Greg Gumbel!  Of all the Gumbels, he was the best.

[Carey]

He sure was!  Similar to Raft, there really isn't anything about him where you could put his name and "ego" in the same sentence.  Of course, I don't think I could about Adam Zucker either, but he hasn't been around that long.  Greats like Summerall, Verne, JB, Dick Enberg...a lot of people that were featured in the sports world that put the sport they were working on before themselves have move on or are gone.

[Salacious Kitty]

Suck it, Zagś!

[Carey]

Michigan kicks out Howard

[Salacious Kitty]

1 hour ago, Carey said:

Michigan kicks out Howard

That was quick. But Michigan was terrible this year. 

[Calvada]

I'm really curious to see how Purdue and Zach Edey deal with non-Big Ten officials in the tournament.   

[mojoween]

Um, Houston?  WTF.

[mojoween]

Welp some at-large just lost their spot and I for one could not be happier about it.

[Carey]

I'll be even happier when everyone's brackets die this time 144 hours from now.

[Salacious Kitty]

And with Oregon's win, another bubble team goes bust.

[Carey]

I think the chances of zero perfect brackets by Friday are more than 50%.  Maybe, maybe not, but only due to the fact that people fill out more than one bracket annually.

BTW, things might suck for the bubble teams, but imagine being a fan of Kent State

[mojoween]

Is this Big 10 championship the first time we are hearing Ian with Grant and Bill, or have they called the games all this week?

[Carey]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Is this Big 10 championship the first time we are hearing Ian with Grant and Bill, or have they called the games all this week?

That trio called a couple of games on Saturday.  In addition to that, they called a game together last weekend (around the time Nantz would've normally showed up during the PGA break between the Genesis & the Masters).  The only difference is Tracy wasn't there last week, but was there 2 weeks ago when it was still just Ian & Bill (Grant was still doing NBA stuff).

 

As of around 5 PM Eastern, it appears that 30 of the 32 automatic spots have been disclosed.  As is the custom, the Big Ten Tourney winner will fill out the last spot.  It looks like UAB might be okay over Temple.  I do believe that Illinois & Wisconsin will definitely be fine if one of those two end up being the runner up in the Big 10 Tournament Final.

If I made a typo in the following, blame me (and CBSSN LOL):

Akron, Auburn, Charleston Colgate, Connecticut, Drake, Duquesne, Grambling State, Grand Canyon University,Howard, Iowa State, James Madison, Long Beach State, Longwood, McNesse State, Montana State, Morehead State, New Mexico,North Carolina State, Oakland,Oregon, Saint Mary's, Saint Peter, Samford,South Dakota State,Stetson, Vermont, Wagner, Western Kentucky, Yale

Barring Overtime, there should be enough time for filler prior to the Selection Show, which will feature the other 36 or so at-large bids.  That number, I think, is a tad bit confusing at this minute since the committee still sends a couple (4) low major winners to Dayton in advance of the Tournament Proper.

Finally, I never thought I'd ever type in Duquesne in terms of people dancing.
 

Edited March 17 by Carey
Spacing

[Salacious Kitty]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Is this Big 10 championship the first time we are hearing Ian with Grant and Bill, or have they called the games all this week?

The BIG tournament started in their own network. I don't think morhership CBS picked it up until yesterday. 

[mojoween]

For no good reason I was rooting for Wisconsin so that was a bummer.

Sending good thoughts Greg Gumbel’s way.  As I mentioned above, I’ll miss him during the tourney (this Adam Zucker guy seems nice, but he’s no Greg).

[Carey]

When it came to a "veteran coach" ripping those that said no thanks to the NIT, I suppose it's amazing that I thought of Tom Crean before looking at a clip featuring Tom Crean destroying those programs that skipped the NIT

[LexieLily]

One of the 10-seeds in the First Four matchup, Virginia, only has 21 points midway through the second half. 😬

[Carey]

It's not even Wednesday yet, and we're already seeing live, actual examples of what something looks like when you prop up something that isn't worth it in lieu of something that was worth it.

And, no, LexieLily.  I'm not mad at you at all.  Just responding with the frustration of UVA being in Dayton in the first place.  And yet, people had the time to comment how unacceptable it was for several programs to say no way to the NIT that at least could've been in Dayton or playing as recommended, but on Thursday & Friday

[LexieLily]

I don't pay much attention to college basketball outside of March Madness but - if this was even halfway representative of what Virginia was like all season I understand your angry emoji. 

What is the NIT tournament? Is that like winning the G-League Finals vs the NBA Finals, in NBA terms?

[Carey]

I guess you could say that.  For me, it's the hoops version of the Bit Pay Bowl or some other college football bonus game for a nothing trophy.  It used to be worth it, but not anymore

[mojoween]

The Panthers are sitting at home saying “fuck’s sake we could have scored 42 in the first half”.

[Crashcourse]

I had Virginia and Howard winning their play in games and they both lost.  So, does that mean that, technically, my bracket is busted already? 😅

[Salacious Kitty]

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

I had Virginia and Howard winning their play in games and they both lost.  So, does that mean that, technically, my bracket is busted already? 😅

I had Wagner and Colorado State. I'm ballin'! 😂

[Crashcourse]

7 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I had Wagner and Colorado State. I'm ballin'! 😂

Well, we'll see how that goes after the first round! 🤣 

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

Well, we'll see how that goes after the first round! 🤣 

Right? 🤪

[Carey]

Okay, that was more like it. Thank you Colorado.

Nothing against Boise State, but 53 is better than something else.  While holding the eventual winner to just 7 more, after a well-fought battle for the final spot in the Tournament Proper.

[mojoween]

My apologies, Virginia.  The team that beat you is dangerously close to not even equaling your pathetic output from Tuesday.

[Carey]

Kentucky > Virginia