It's a college basketball thread...

[speedracer]

If I hadn't bet on WSU and the under, I'd be pretty annoyed at the way they've slowed down the UNC game to a crawl.

 

[speedracer]

Davidson v. Wisconsin, Gus Johnson calling the action.

Getcha popcorn ready.

 

[speedracer]

Stephen Curry is Jesus

 

[Mr. BAW]

^he could play in sandals!^

 

[Hewson]

Man is Curry fun to watch.

 

[ET]

Finally, a dominant Bruin win!!

 

[Mr. BAW]

^spoken like a true dominatrix^

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Headache, when you coach, do you have your kids force the ball to the middle? Or do you force it baseline?

unless you have a 6'10" bohemoth under the basket to intimidate, especially in high school, it's always best to deny baseline and force them middle... more help there.

 

[DaveC]

This game is finishing me in my money pool.

 

[Dalton]

This whole tourny bent me over a chair.

 

[Hewson]

Damn.

Thanks Davidson for quite a ride.

 

[phillyfan26]

I enjoyed Kansas' strategy of waiting for Curry's first 20 points before deciding to go Box-and-1, which, coincidentally or not, held him to 5 points in 18 minutes.

Indeed, it was quite a ride.

 

[speedracer]

I enjoyed Kansas' strategy of waiting for Curry's first 20 points before deciding to go Box-and-1, which, coincidentally or not, held him to 5 points in 18 minutes.

Indeed, it was quite a ride.

Not only that, somehow it took Bill Self about 30 minutes to realize that his team had a massive size advantage over Davidson.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

damn.


davidson has more skill than kansas... unless you count length and athleticism as a skill.

i will spare you the rant about why american basketball sucks so much... but yea. a microcosim right there.

and ironicly enough (and fucking shittily enough) a very similar ending to my state championship game last night.

 

[phanan]

I thought Davidson was gonna pull it out there at the end. Oh well.

 

[thetitans2k]

damn.


davidson has more skill than kansas... unless you count length and athleticism as a skill.

i will spare you the rant about why american basketball sucks so much... but yea. a microcosim right there.

and ironicly enough (and fucking shittily enough) a very similar ending to my state championship game last night.

I don't understand your problem with athletic teams winning. Their fundamentals may not be as good but who cares when they win. Basketball is an athletic sport, so it should let the better atheletes be dominant.

 

[CTU2fan]

I'm guessing the problem is that the basketball climate has made it an either/or discussion. There's no reason that a big athletic player can't be fundamentally sound, other than that these players aren't held accountable at any level so they never learn to play "smart" basketball.

While I don't have the problem with teams like that winning that Headache seems to (maybe because my school has some of those guys on its roster?), I can understand why people would, and why Joe Fan might choose to cheer on a team of 6'4" guys with pretty jump shots who hustle on both ends and play "smart".

How many guys do you guys see on the college level (or pro for that matter) who are both athletic specimens and fundamentally sound? There's not many (talking bigs, not wing players and guards).

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I'm guessing the problem is that the basketball climate has made it an either/or discussion. There's no reason that a big athletic player can't be fundamentally sound, other than that these players aren't held accountable at any level so they never learn to play "smart" basketball.

While I don't have the problem with teams like that winning that Headache seems to (maybe because my school has some of those guys on its roster?), I can understand why people would, and why Joe Fan might choose to cheer on a team of 6'4" guys with pretty jump shots who hustle on both ends and play "smart".

How many guys do you guys see on the college level (or pro for that matter) who are both athletic specimens and fundamentally sound? There's not many (talking bigs, not wing players and guards).

you can include wings and guards as well. there aren't many, and that's the issue. what you touched on in the first paragraph is exactly the problem with american basketball. there is no reason that the big athletic player can't be fundamentaly sound as well. our downfall on the international basketball scene is our own fault. some have woken up to this, some still remain with their heads in the sand.

the old "i can teach the athletic freak to play the game the right way but i can't teach the fundametaly sound kid to be an athletic freak" approach, for the most part, does not work anymore. why? 'cause these kids' ego's are so jacked up by coaches, parents and AAU programs that by the time they get to the power conference team, they are, for the most part, incapable of changing their ways.

some guys get it... coach k gets it, and he refuses to take any of these AAU superstars. and it hurts duke in the end, and that sucks (unless you hate duke). mckillop certainly gets it. look at his roster. the fact that it's filled with sons of former players and sons of former/current coaches is not merely a coincidence. it's done on purpose.

the issue, of course, becomes when the mid major coach who despises the AAU culture and thrives on the guys a step below who have a little more fire in their belly gets that bump up to the major conference team and falls right into the old "i can teach the athletic freak to play the game the right way" trap, i.e. bruce pearl.

 

[CTU2fan]

^ or Bill Self.

Coach K has built enough of a resume that he can do it his way, to hell with everybody else. Not many guys in that position. I'm kind of glad to see him succeed the way he does it, as much as it pains me being a UConn alum and devout Duke-hater

 

[CTU2fan]

OK am I the only one who isn't all that excited about this Final 4? I mean you've got the (theoretically anyway) best 4 teams in it, and I'm just not all that fired up. Maybe It's because I'm missing an obvious underdog to root for?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i really want to see unc vs. ucla... kansas-carolina has the obvious "roy williams' anus is gonna be tighter than, um, something that's really tight" sub-plot... and i just can't get excited over the prospects of watching memphis assault the front of the rim with their awful awful shooting

 

[Hewson]

The real tourney ended last night with the good guys coming up short in the 2nd half at MSG.
With apologies to U2Me3: F*ck tOSU.

 

[DaveC]

i really want to see unc vs. ucla...

Me too. UCLA wins and I win my money pool, UNC wins and my buddy gets the cash. He'll never shut up about it if he wins (he spent days on his bracket), so ideally I'd like a UNC-UCLA final with UCLA winning on a buzzer beater just to stick it to Logan.

 

[speedracer]

i really want to see unc vs. ucla... kansas-carolina has the obvious "roy williams' anus is gonna be tighter than, um, something that's really tight" sub-plot... and i just can't get excited over the prospects of watching memphis assault the front of the rim with their awful awful shooting

For purely monetary reasons, I am very excited over the prospect of Memphis shooting worse than 65% from the foul line.

 

[CTU2fan]

I hope the UNC/Kansas winner wins it...screw Calipari and Memphis.

 

[U2ME3]

The real tourney ended last night with the good guys coming up short in the 2nd half at MSG.
With apologies to U2Me3: F*ck tOSU.

No worries. Comes with the territory. Thank you for using the "t" before OSU.

Games should be awesome today! Like most would love to see UNC-UCLA. Although any of the match ups wuld be great!

 

[U2ME3]

my fault.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

and the worst ncaa tournament in, well, ever continuuuuuuuues...

 

[kellyahern]

Dear UNC,

I know it's only the first half and all, and I'm not really up on my college basketball, but seriously . . . what the hell?

Sincerely,
Me

eta: I'm sure CBS loved Billy Packer saying the game was over.

 

[phillyfan26]

Fact: I fucking hate Memphis.

Warrants mentioning.