March Madness 2023 - All other games talk

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

42 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

I still wonder to this day why BP chooses not to actually reign in players. WG, Flan, and KD have been taking horrible shots and making horrible decisions with the ball for two years and not only do we not see any evidence that BP is coaching them to correct that, but we actually see the opposite. BP essentially saying he let's players play on offense. I recall an interview with Zep where he said BP doesn't emphasize shot selection barely at all in practice (which I guess shouldnt shock me by seeing the shots we often choose to take in game). But Why???

He says they play hard on defense so ge gives them leeway on offense. Makes no sense to me

[AUBwins 10,075]

Looks like we would have run into that Miami buzz saw 2 years in a row. They just turn it on that 2nd weekend

[AUBwins 10,075]

Unfortunately Zags gotta play UConn next, but if they are ever going to do it, needs to be this year.  Winner of that game likely will be interested to see what Xavier does though tonight.  They are the only team to beat UConn twice this year. 

Big East is back though.  Creighton, Xavier, UConn are very strong still late in this tourney. 

[AUBwins 10,075]

Miami ends my best bracket to this point.  That had Houston winning.  My last hope is Zags winning. 

[TigerPAC 965]

I’ll take winner of UConn and Zags for the title, out of who is left.  But the us has been a crazy tournament 

[cole256 17,043]

On 3/24/2023 at 7:59 AM, BigSammyK said:

Anyone who likes to claim our guards are too small to compete should go watch what Markquis Nowell did against Michigan State last night. 5'8" and just scored 20 points with 19 assists and only 2 turnovers.

This is such an Auburn fan post

[BigSammyK 171]

17 hours ago, cole256 said:

This is such an Auburn fan post

Well gee -- imagine that. An "Auburn fan post" on an Auburn fan message board. Weird.

[KansasTiger 3,248]

1 minute ago, BigSammyK said:

Well gee -- imagine that. An "Auburn fan post" on an Auburn fan message board. Weird.

I think what he's saying is that pointing out an exceptionally rare case does not prove that our small guards can magically become effective. Having watched KState basketball all year, none of our guards come close to Nowell's skill at facilitating, and at his volume he'd probably be our best shooter on the team. Our guards are small and lack the needed skills.

[cole256 17,043]

57 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

I think what he's saying is that pointing out an exceptionally rare case does not prove that our small guards can magically become effective. Having watched KState basketball all year, none of our guards come close to Nowell's skill at facilitating, and at his volume he'd probably be our best shooter on the team. Our guards are small and lack the needed skills.

Thank you. And imo that's just so typical Auburn to really see an exceptional outlier and just come to the ol they did it! How many 6'6" and 6'9" guys play the game of basketball? How many Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James have you seen? 

It's about your skill set and physical abilities. It's not just height and I don't know their team or that player but I know for him to be successful he has to be a good shooter, a good decision maker, and he has to have some tall freakishly athletic guard/wing to off set mismatches. 

I love the Rudy story as much as anybody but you start two guards under under 6' in D1 basketball you probably are going to lose. Mugsy Boges, Earl Boykins, etc.....yeah they played and were great. The NBA doesn't discriminate though. There's a reason players that size are far and in between. 

 

For whatever reason some men really don't want to believe that size matters

Edited March 26, 2023 by cole256

[Mikey 16,576]

There have been a bunch of very fine women's games as well. Auburn aside, this is the most enjoyable March Madness that I've ever experienced.

The best player I've seen in relation to the competition, bar none, is Iowa's Caitlin Clark. She's a 6' 4" point guard who can handle the ball, attack the basket on the dribble and has a deadly 3 point shot. I first noticed her last year. Earlier this season I was channel surfing, saw an Iowa game on the Big Ten network and thought I'd check her progress. She didn't disappoint with 42 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. Next time I watched she had 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. The girl can play!

Now the Mighty Owls of Florida Atlantic are in the men's final four. Their come from behind win over Kansas State last night was a thing of beauty. GO OWLS!

[KansasTiger 3,248]

16 minutes ago, cole256 said:

Thank you. And imo that's just so typical Auburn to really see an exceptional outlier and just come to the ol they did it! How many 6'6" and 6'9" guys play the game of basketball? How many Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James have you seen? 

It's about your skill set and physical abilities. It's not just height and I don't know their team or that player but I know for him to be successful he has to be a good shooter, a good decision maker, and he has to have some tall freakishly athletic guard/wing to off set mismatches. 

I love the Rudy story as much as anybody but you start two guards under under 6' in D1 basketball you probably are going to lose. Mugsy Boges, Earl Boykins, etc.....yeah they played and were great. The NBA doesn't discriminate though. There's a reason players that size are far and in between. 

 

For whatever reason some men really don't want to believe that size matters

Keyonte Johnson, the former Florida standout before his heart issue, fills in the freakishly athletic requirement on that team. Along with Ish Massoud as a sharpshooter 40%+ three point shooter. The team reminded me of our 2019 team in many ways, just not as sound as we were on defense and rebounding.

[cole256 17,043]

23 minutes ago, KansasTiger said:

Keyonte Johnson, the former Florida standout before his heart issue, fills in the freakishly athletic requirement on that team. Along with Ish Massoud as a sharpshooter 40%+ three point shooter. The team reminded me of our 2019 team in many ways, just not as sound as we were on defense and rebounding.

See? I knew it without knowing anything about the team,v just from his numbers. He has to be able to shoot himself or they would just sag off him. For him to get those numbers he would have to have spacing or they would clog it up on him. 

If they didn't do that then it means he has at least one maybe even two that they didn't want to leave open cuz they can shoot AND just as important he will willingly set them up. 

If green would just say first half I'm setting things up and second half I'm looking for my own shot he'd up his usage rate at least 30%

[Golden Eagle 362]

Tweet by Justin Ferguson last night:

FAU is the No. 329 team nationally in average height but has beaten the brains out of pretty much everybody on the glass

every basketball coach you ever had was right: rebounding is not just a size thing

[Golden Eagle 362]

Ouch!

San Diego State does the whole country a solid by ousting Nate Oats, Alabama

Opinion by Nancy Armour, USA TODAY 

San Diego State does the whole country a solid by ousting Nate Oats, Alabama (msn.com)

[AUwent 3,748]

Well, I was rooting for Texas but on the bright side we’re still the last F4 SEC team even counting future members!

Edited March 26, 2023 by AUwent

[SLAG-91 1,483]

2022 to 2023 Final Fours: Blue Bloods to "Who?" Bloods

[AUBwins 10,075]

First time watching Caitlin Clark last night.  My goodness she is amazing.  She is HER. 2 straight games of 40+ in elite 8 and Final 4. This last one was against undefeated and #1 defense South Carolina.  She single handily kept Iowa in front of SC the entire night.  She scored or assisted every point in the 4th quarter for Iowa. Wish I had seen more of her games this year.  Gonna be an excellent final with LSU, which was my choice to win it this year.  

[SLAG-91 1,483]

This is the first time in, maybe ever, that the women's FF is more compelling and interesting, and by a fairly wide margin, than the men's. Hopefully today's games will be interesting and competitive. I could probably get a ticket for $20 Monday night if Miami beats UConn...secondary market for the men's FF is 100% in buyer's favor.

As for the women, Caitlin Clark kind of reminds me of what Danny Manning did for Kansas in 1988 and Kemba Walker did for UConn in 2011...she's got enough talent around her to make her non-scoring skills pay off, but she is as advertised. When you know who's going to have the ball and you still can't stop it, that's greatness.

I think it's also helping that some of the traditional blue-blood women's programs AREN'T in the FF...no Stanford, Tennessee, UConn, yet other really good teams have added some depth. I don't know if it's a one-off or a trend, but having more teams capable of winning a title will only keep helping the women's game.

[Mikey 16,576]

Gamecocks got plucked by the Hawkeyes. Or more to the point, by Caitlin Clark. This is the second year that I've been making it a point to catch her games on the TV. She's kind of like it was when watching Pete Maravitch: You want to watch closely because you know you aren't likely to see this again.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

4 hours ago, SLAG-91 said:

This is the first time in, maybe ever, that the women's FF is more compelling and interesting, and by a fairly wide margin, than the men's. Hopefully today's games will be interesting and competitive. I could probably get a ticket for $20 Monday night if Miami beats UConn...secondary market for the men's FF is 100% in buyer's favor.

As for the women, Caitlin Clark kind of reminds me of what Danny Manning did for Kansas in 1988 and Kemba Walker did for UConn in 2011...she's got enough talent around her to make her non-scoring skills pay off, but she is as advertised. When you know who's going to have the ball and you still can't stop it, that's greatness.

I think it's also helping that some of the traditional blue-blood women's programs AREN'T in the FF...no Stanford, Tennessee, UConn, yet other really good teams have added some depth. I don't know if it's a one-off or a trend, but having more teams capable of winning a title will only keep helping the women's game.

I honestly agree halfway. Women’s last few rounds has had more star power, but we’ve got some stellar games amongst the men’s too. I don’t think this is a worse men’s bracket than usual, just less brands and individuals for the avg person to already know coming in. 
 

The platform for women has been something that media and powerful basketball related heads have tried to raise over the last few years, and this is that finally paying off. I can’t pretend to know much about their history, but I’ve been seeing the wheels turn and appreciate this ROI 

[Mikey 16,576]

Women's championship game: The refs ruined this game from the opening tipoff to the final buzzer. Calling touch-me-not and non existent fouls all over the court. Both teams had to beat two opponents. One was the team in the other uniforms and the other was the refs.

Both team's starting post players had two fouls BEFORE the first quarter was over.  LSU's Angel Reese sat out the entire 2nd quarter as did Iowa's Cenziano. The refs took what could have been a classic game and turned in into a farce in which avoiding fouls was the primary concern. People didn't watch to see refs make BS calls. Nobody wants to look at refs. Iowa's Clark couldn't do a large part of what she does because there was no way for anybody to drive to the hoop without being called for some nit-pick thing. The same goes for Reese's shot blocking.

Great players like Reese and Clark can't play great when their primary concern has to be BS calls. Congrats to LSU, it not bad when the trophy stays in the SEC but it sure would have been fun to watch a game in which the refs didn't spoil things.

[TeamZero77 1,784]

On 3/26/2023 at 10:27 AM, Mikey said:

There have been a bunch of very fine women's games as well. Auburn aside, this is the most enjoyable March Madness that I've ever experienced.

The best player I've seen in relation to the competition, bar none, is Iowa's Caitlin Clark. She's a 6' 4" point guard who can handle the ball, attack the basket on the dribble and has a deadly 3 point shot. I first noticed her last year. Earlier this season I was channel surfing, saw an Iowa game on the Big Ten network and thought I'd check her progress. She didn't disappoint with 42 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. Next time I watched she had 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. The girl can play!

Now the Mighty Owls of Florida Atlantic are in the men's final four. Their come from behind win over Kansas State last night was a thing of beauty. GO OWLS!

Caitlyn broke the all-time NCAA tourney record for points, both men's and women's. Glen Rice had the record from 1989 when he won a National Title with Michigan. Sheryl Swoopes in 1993 for Texas Tech led for women's all-time points in the tourney with 177. Caitlyn had 191 points in this tournament and 4 straight games of 30 or more points. 

Iowa lost to LSU today and that's the ONLY thing that kept Caitlyn from winning player of the game. An LSU girl won Finals MVP because of 10 rebounds today. I would've given it to Caitlyn anyway. She's a walking bucket if I've ever seen one. And since the women's NCAA rule requires 3 years of school before entering the WNBA draft, she's gonna be back next season for sure and possibly 2 more years because the commentators mentioned her NIL money will be greater than first year players make in the WNBA. Aliyah Boston came back to South Carolina for her 4th year this year instead of being the sure fire #1 draft pick and it was due to her NIL money being so much more than going pro for the first year. Aliyah Boston was 2022 NCAA POY like Caitlyn was this season. 

I doubt Caitlyn stays all 4 years at Iowa but it would be pretty awesome to watch if she did.

Edited April 3, 2023 by TeamZero77

[TeamZero77 1,784]

If you didn't know that Kim Mulkey is a great coach, just ask her because she's more than happy to tell the world whether you want to know or not. 

Nearly every interview with her is alot of "I, I ,I." Holly Rowe got the first interview with Mulkey right after the buzzer sounded. She said "Most coaches dream of just getting to a Final 4. I've won 4 National Titles at 2 schools Holly. When I was hired here at LSU, they won 9 games the year before. Now in year 2, I've won us a National Title and 34 wins. They told me when I was hired here that LSU has been to lots of Final 4's in men's and women's basketball but never a title and not even a National Title game appearance. I couldn't believe that. And already in year 2, I've won LSU it's first Nat'l Title in men's or women's basketball. I'm just happy to bring a Title to Louisiana." 

That's only one interview. After they beat Virginia Tech it was much of the same. And all the post game pressers were alot of "I,I,I, me, me, me." She's called "The Bayou Barbie" because of her gaudy outfits she wears. She's just WAAAAY too dramatic on the sidelines for me. Bruce Pearl and many others yell plays and coach and that's totally expected. Mulkey does that and damn near gets out there as a 6th player on the floor at times. She gets T'd up alot for her actions but it seems really self serving to me. She's a good coach though, I will give her that but I've never liked the winners that have to constantly remind everybody that they're winners. She makes it about her instead of the team.

Edited April 3, 2023 by TeamZero77

[TeamZero77 1,784]

On 4/1/2023 at 7:17 AM, SLAG-91 said:

This is the first time in, maybe ever, that the women's FF is more compelling and interesting, and by a fairly wide margin, than the men's. Hopefully today's games will be interesting and competitive. I could probably get a ticket for $20 Monday night if Miami beats UConn...secondary market for the men's FF is 100% in buyer's favor.

As for the women, Caitlin Clark kind of reminds me of what Danny Manning did for Kansas in 1988 and Kemba Walker did for UConn in 2011...she's got enough talent around her to make her non-scoring skills pay off, but she is as advertised. When you know who's going to have the ball and you still can't stop it, that's greatness.

I think it's also helping that some of the traditional blue-blood women's programs AREN'T in the FF...no Stanford, Tennessee, UConn, yet other really good teams have added some depth. I don't know if it's a one-off or a trend, but having more teams capable of winning a title will only keep helping the women's game.

I think NIL and the transfer portal being so popular now will only help smaller schools like FAU, San Diego St. and others do this more often on both the men's and women's sides. 

It's also hard for these blue bloods full of "1 and done" players on the men's side to beat a seasoned team that has 4 year players. I don't care how talented these Kentucky teams and other blue bloods are, it's hard to be 18 years old and beat 22 year old men that have played 4 years of ball together. Jay Bilas, Laphonso Ellis and the College Gameday guys talked about this a couple days ago and it will become more and more common I believe. I love it tbh.

[bigbird 60,498]

 

 

 

It's terrible. The LSU ladies are overshadowed and the Iowa's ladies are robbed of the opportunity. Shameful