NCAA Tournament 2019 Discussion

[professorhoya]

Mar 25, 2019 20:25:19 GMT -5 drquigley said:

Mar 24, 2019 21:24:53 GMT -5 professorhoya said:

In general they just want the huge schools with giant alumni bases to be in the final four. A cinderalla makes a nice story but ticket prices, travel and spending plummets when a Cinderella takes one of the 4 spots.

Last year ticket prices were great (for the spectator) for the final four because Loyola had no fan base.

I believe that's why they came up with this NET system all of a sudden.

If a fake cinderella like Ohio State or Oregon make the Final Four it doesn't hurt them because those are top schools with giant alumni bases.

Sorry folks but ticket sales and alumni bases are just gravy. The real money is TV revenue and a cinderella story probably increases viewership (Loyola anyone?). The whole March Madness and March to the Final Four is a TV generated extravaganza and no matter who makes it to the sweet 16 and final four CBS et al will make sure the TV ratings - and revenue- are high.

It's more than just ticket sales. (although it was nice to see the price drop by half because of Loyola). You are talking hotel rooms, flights, tourist spending, all the things promised to the host city. Loyola literally had like 2000 fans before their run.

I do agree that TV is important but I don't think the NCAA is calculating the negative impact that a lack of Cinderella's will have on neutral viewership. That's a huge miscalculation on their part.

[hoyazeke]

Mar 25, 2019 11:14:38 GMT -5 tribeninerhoya said:

Mar 25, 2019 8:37:22 GMT -5 Elvado said:

Let’s stop the charade of these Dukies as student athletes. The Duke Stars have to stay eligible for one semester before they leave town. Hypocritzki should start calling them what they are: Athletes in Residence.

He is nothing more than John Calipari with better press.

Let's also stop the charade of pretending like it takes a good coach to take a team starting 5 McD's AAs to a Final Four.  But someone got injured?  Oh well, better trot out another 5-star player right off the bench.


Last year Duke had 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player.  The year before Duke had 4 5-star players and 2 4-star players.  That's 8 5-star players and 3 4-star players signed in two years.  They should've lost to UCF yesterday.  I could coach that team to a one point win against UCF.

If anyone's curious, they signed 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player the year before, as well.  The year before that?  4 5-star players.  Ridic.

I don't think its possible to hate Duke basketball more than I do but its just not true saying Coach K isn't a very good coach. That fact was proven in 94 when he took Grant Hill and a group of freshmen to c'ship game and 95 when his team went 13-18 the season he missed with back surgery. I will add that the 94 team was not good enough to play for a c'ship and they should have won if not for the luckiest game winner of all time....

[hoya95]

Mar 25, 2019 21:59:13 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

Mar 25, 2019 11:14:38 GMT -5 tribeninerhoya said:

Let's also stop the charade of pretending like it takes a good coach to take a team starting 5 McD's AAs to a Final Four.  But someone got injured?  Oh well, better trot out another 5-star player right off the bench.


Last year Duke had 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player.  The year before Duke had 4 5-star players and 2 4-star players.  That's 8 5-star players and 3 4-star players signed in two years.  They should've lost to UCF yesterday.  I could coach that team to a one point win against UCF.

If anyone's curious, they signed 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player the year before, as well.  The year before that?  4 5-star players.  Ridic.

I don't think its possible to hate Duke basketball more than I do but its just not true saying Coach K isn't a very good coach. That fact was proven in 94 when he took Grant Hill and a group of freshmen to c'ship game and 95 when his team went 13-18 the season he missed with back surgery. I will add that the 94 team was not good enough to play for a c'ship and they should have won if not for the luckiest game winner of all time....

He's an excellent coach, but he gets a free pass for things that other coaches would get crushed for, obviously for turning his school into a one and done factory, but especially for hogging the US Olympics job for three full Olympics while every other NBA coach got shut out. Can’t believe the pass he got for that one, except for one Woj column that destroyed him.

[Elvado]

Four words for that Count Chocula look alike:

Pete Gaudet
Corey Magette


He is a scumbag. At least Calipari is up front about what he is and takes the heat

[hoyazeke]

Mar 25, 2019 23:51:57 GMT -5 hoya95 said:

Mar 25, 2019 21:59:13 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

I don't think its possible to hate Duke basketball more than I do but its just not true saying Coach K isn't a very good coach. That fact was proven in 94 when he took Grant Hill and a group of freshmen to c'ship game and 95 when his team went 13-18 the season he missed with back surgery. I will add that the 94 team was not good enough to play for a c'ship and they should have won if not for the luckiest game winner of all time....

He's an excellent coach, but he gets a free pass for things that other coaches would get crushed for, obviously for turning his school into a one and done factory, but especially for hogging the US Olympics job for three full Olympics while every other NBA coach got shut out. Can’t believe the pass he got for that one, except for one Woj column that destroyed him.

I think he gets a pass because he hasn't been implicated in any bribery like scandals. The Olympics thing is fair to criticize because I don't believe college coaches should be allowed that kind of exposure. It has to be an recruiting advantage to be able to say I coached KD, Steph, PG13,....etc.....

[prhoya]

Mar 25, 2019 23:51:57 GMT -5 hoya95 said:

Can’t believe the pass he got for that one, except for one Woj column that destroyed him.

What Woj column? I missed it.

[This Just In]

Mar 26, 2019 4:10:33 GMT -5 Elvado said:

Four words for that Count Chocula look alike:

Pete Gaudet
Corey Magette


He is a scumbag. At least Calipari is up front about what he is and takes the heat

Not familiar with this, what happened?

[hoya95]

Mar 26, 2019 6:45:47 GMT -5 prhoya said:

Mar 25, 2019 23:51:57 GMT -5 hoya95 said:

Can’t believe the pass he got for that one, except for one Woj column that destroyed him.

What Woj column? I missed it.

This is it. There was another one that detailed Gregg Popovich confronting Jerry Colangelo about why NBA coaches weren't being allowed to coach NBA players at the Olympics, but I can't find it. No one else would call out K, but Woj crushed him.

sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-needs-to-pull-stars-from-usa-basketball--which-is-showcasing-only-duke-s-coach-044717393.html

[prhoya]

Thanks

[RockawayHoya]

After watching games non-stop for 4 straight days, I think the biggest difference between tourney teams and us are the following:

1. Lack of extreme bonehead turnovers. Teams have gotten flustered by pressure and I'm not referring to that, but I'm talking about the catching the ball out of bounds because people forget where they are on the court, fumbling passes without intense pressure (basically lapses in concentration), moving screens up top, etc. We need to cut those down big time if we are to improve next year.

2. Ability to hit deep 3's. We saw how bad the team struggled with the deeper 3 point line against Harvard. What's so striking about a lot of these NCAA teams is that they have guys who can hit the 22-23 footer with regularity if not covered. It would be nice to have a guy or two that we could trust to do that, because aside from the added points it would also help space the floor a bit better. We don't have anyone now that fits that bill.

3. Flexibility to adapt to the flow of the game. A lot of good coaching in the first few rounds and plenty of examples of teams that were able to make adjustments on the fly in terms of changing defensive looks, coming out of halftime with a different approach if Plan A didn't work, calling timeouts to break up negative momentum, etc. We are going to be able to need to do this at a credible level next year if we are to take the next step.

[daveg023]

Mar 26, 2019 10:33:06 GMT -5 RockawayHoya said:

After watching games non-stop for 4 straight days, I think the biggest difference between tourney teams and us are the following:

1. Lack of extreme bonehead turnovers. Teams have gotten flustered by pressure and I'm not referring to that, but I'm talking about the catching the ball out of bounds because people forget where they are on the court, fumbling passes without intense pressure (basically lapses in concentration), moving screens up top, etc. We need to cut those down big time if we are to improve next year.

2. Ability to hit deep 3's. We saw how bad the team struggled with the deeper 3 point line against Harvard. What's so striking about a lot of these NCAA teams is that they have guys who can hit the 22-23 footer with regularity if not covered. It would be nice to have a guy or two that we could trust to do that, because aside from the added points it would also help space the floor a bit better. We don't have anyone now that fits that bill.

3. Flexibility to adapt to the flow of the game. A lot of good coaching in the first few rounds and plenty of examples of teams that were able to make adjustments on the fly in terms of changing defensive looks, coming out of halftime with a different approach if Plan A didn't work, calling timeouts to break up negative momentum, etc. We are going to be able to need to do this at a credible level next year if we are to take the next step.

Agree with all of the above.  I'd another one though as well:

4.  Play strong half court defense for an entire possession.  I am amazed at watching teams ranging all over the map from majors with top talent in Michigan, Oregon, Florida, Texas Tech, and FSU to less talented mid-major teams in UCF, Wofford, St Mary's and VCU, as to how cohesive and fundamentally sound their half court defenses are.  Every possession they are making the opposition hit a tough shot, forcing a bad pass, blocking a shot, etc.  There are no uncontested drives to the basket, no alley oops, no wide open 3's in the corner after leaving the wrong man open. 
I mean did you see how Kentucky made life difficult for Fletcher Magee on Wofford?  Or did anyone watch the UCF vs VCU opening round game where every basket felt like it was worth 6 points? 

I'm hopeful we'll see improvement with some more rim protectors, but cautious in thinking there's going to be a huge turnaround as we still will have 4 of the same 5 main guys out there.  I really wonder if the Mac and James undersized backcourt can work on this side of the ball, or would we better served limiting the overlap to 10-15 mins a game?  Hopefully Yurt and/or the freshmen centers coupled with Alexander will have the "rising tide lifts all boats" effect on this team.  Otherwise our offense better be elite to make up for the leakage on this end of the floor.

[SSHoya]

Was I wrong to think of James Akinjo after reading this profile on Carsen Edwards? Granted, Akinjo is not the scorer that Edwards is but perhaps more of the attitude?

All of this helps explain why Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, a junior 6-foot-1 guard from the Houston area, is among the most compelling players remaining in the Sweet 16, as his team reaches Louisville down Interstate 65 to play Tennessee on Thursday. With him, one gets a glimpse of what so many lack: ironclad confidence.

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/with-carsen-edwards-purdue-always-has-a-shot-lots-of-them-in-fact/2019/03/26/d0e3517e-4ff0-11e9-a3f7-78b7525a8d5f_story.html?utm_term=.226ec7e5c590

[HoyaRejuveNation85]

Good comparison, SS. I hope James develops physically and learns to score at the rim like Carsen Edwards does. Edwards is a terrific player, who was overlooked occasionally himself.

[b52legend]

Mar 25, 2019 21:59:13 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

Mar 25, 2019 11:14:38 GMT -5 tribeninerhoya said:

Let's also stop the charade of pretending like it takes a good coach to take a team starting 5 McD's AAs to a Final Four.  But someone got injured?  Oh well, better trot out another 5-star player right off the bench.


Last year Duke had 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player.  The year before Duke had 4 5-star players and 2 4-star players.  That's 8 5-star players and 3 4-star players signed in two years.  They should've lost to UCF yesterday.  I could coach that team to a one point win against UCF.

If anyone's curious, they signed 4 5-star players and 1 4-star player the year before, as well.  The year before that?  4 5-star players.  Ridic.

I don't think its possible to hate Duke basketball more than I do but its just not true saying Coach K isn't a very good coach. That fact was proven in 94 when he took Grant Hill and a group of freshmen to c'ship game and 95 when his team went 13-18 the season he missed with back surgery. I will add that the 94 team was not good enough to play for a c'ship and they should have won if not for the luckiest game winner of all time....

"Luckiest game winner of all time...."? I'm not sure about that. It was a high arcing shot, but it was shot by Scotty Thurman (All-SEC, shot 43% from 3 for the season). He said after the game that it was actually a shot he practiced by shooting over broomsticks. Also, that Arkansas team was the better team and deservedly won the game. So off-topic, and doesn't take away from what Coach K has done as a coach, but as an Arkansas fan I felt the need to set the record straight.

[iheartdurenbros]

Thank you, Dana O'Neil

That would be Oregon, a school made rich by Nike, twice involved in sexual assault allegations, alleged to have partaken in the Brian Bowen sweepstakes and now implicated in another pay-to-play scam by an attorney best known for working with a porn star who claims she was paid hush money by the President of the United States.

Cue the heartstrings.

Of the 353 teams that play Division I basketball, none may be more difficult to embrace than Oregon. Aside from their lovable mascot, the Ducks are everything that Loyola is not: grotesquely compensated, ethically compromised and backed not by a woman of the cloth, if you will, but a man of the sole. Sister Jean blew out candles alongside students and faculty to celebrate her 99th birthday. For his 80th, Phil Knight threw himself a 32-team basketball tournament, branded with his own initials.

theathletic.com/891741/2019/03/27/oneil-oregon-may-be-a-12-seed-but-the-feel-good-story-ends-there/

[SSHoya]

Dumb. VT has to sit him, don't they??

Virginia Tech forward Ty Outlaw was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana earlier this month, according to Virginia court records. Outlaw is scheduled for a court appearance April 11.

Outlaw, a graduate guard-forward, established himself as the Hokies’ top perimeter threat, leading the team in three-point field goals (78) and three-point shooting percentage (.456) during his final season in Blacksburg. He averages 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds for Virginia Tech, which will meet top-seeded Duke in an East Region semifinal at Capital One Arena in Washington on Friday night.

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/03/27/virginia-techs-ty-outlaw-is-charged-with-marijuana-possession/?utm_term=.42949ffa9242

[hoyarooter]

Mar 27, 2019 18:22:05 GMT -5 SSHoya said:

Dumb. VT has to sit him, don't they??

Virginia Tech forward Ty Outlaw was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana earlier this month, according to Virginia court records. Outlaw is scheduled for a court appearance April 11.

Outlaw, a graduate guard-forward, established himself as the Hokies’ top perimeter threat, leading the team in three-point field goals (78) and three-point shooting percentage (.456) during his final season in Blacksburg. He averages 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds for Virginia Tech, which will meet top-seeded Duke in an East Region semifinal at Capital One Arena in Washington on Friday night.

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/03/27/virginia-techs-ty-outlaw-is-charged-with-marijuana-possession/?utm_term=.42949ffa9242

I would say yes, except that they are playing Duke, so all bets are off. Let him play! Let him play! Let him play! (with no apologies to Trump)

[hoyazeke]

Mar 27, 2019 14:44:52 GMT -5 b52legend said:

Mar 25, 2019 21:59:13 GMT -5 hoyazeke said:

I don't think its possible to hate Duke basketball more than I do but its just not true saying Coach K isn't a very good coach. That fact was proven in 94 when he took Grant Hill and a group of freshmen to c'ship game and 95 when his team went 13-18 the season he missed with back surgery. I will add that the 94 team was not good enough to play for a c'ship and they should have won if not for the luckiest game winner of all time....

"Luckiest game winner of all time...."? I'm not sure about that. It was a high arcing shot, but it was shot by Scotty Thurman (All-SEC, shot 43% from 3 for the season). He said after the game that it was actually a shot he practiced by shooting over broomsticks. Also, that Arkansas team was the better team and deservedly won the game. So off-topic, and doesn't take away from what Coach K has done as a coach, but as an Arkansas fan I felt the need to set the record straight.

Calm down b52. I stated that Duke wasn't good enough to be in the game. Meaning outside of GHill and Coach K, Duke had no business getting pass the 2nd rnd. I wasn't trying to take anything away from Arkansas. They were loaded and I remember being tense because I didn't think it would be close after the 1st 10mins or so....

[DanMcQ]

[hoyasaxa2003]

Capital One Arena was supposed to be the collegiate home of Tremont Waters.

Emphasis on supposed to be.

——

“The coaching staff was on edge about being fired or whatever,” Waters recalled on Thursday (March 28). “And they pretty much talked about that all season. So my parents and I, we kept noticing that they were talking about that. And then he actually got fired.”

www.nola.com/lsu/2019/03/2-years-later-lsus-tremont-waters-to-finally-play-at-georgetowns-arena.html