Official 2020 College Basketball Thread

[Swaggs]

Legendary game!

[Lathum]

OMG

Better than Laetner. Best buzzer beater of all time

[tarcone]

Team of destiny. That was one of the best shots I have ever seen. Wow

[PilotMan]

One for the history books. You can't write a finish any better unless it's UCLA winning with the upset.

[Galaril]

So guess it was always going to be 1 vs 2 at least it was more dramatic this time and with with no blue bloods.

[HomerSimpson98]

Originally Posted by Lathum

OMG

Better than Laetner. Best buzzer beater of all time

Close, but no

[MrBug708]

Sucks to lose but it was a great postseason. Took a miracle to to the Zags as far as we did and a miracle shot to knock us out.

[jbergey22]

Well. The good news is you will be bringing back this entire unit next year.

[JPhillips]

Cronin is a heck of a coach.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Well. The good news is you will be bringing back this entire unit next year.

We shall see.

Side note - If I never see that "block" in Cody Riley again, I won't complain. Ugh

[Young Drachma]

Fuck the NCAA always, but both the women's games and these men's ones have been full of some good endings. That Suggs shot.

Originally Posted by Lathum

OMG

Better than Laetner. Best buzzer beater of all time

It will be once they secure the perfect season, yeah.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

A razor thin margin between being out of the tournament in the play-in game against Michigan St and playing in the National Championship tonight is proving. UCLA lost one of its better players for the year early on this year.

Not to mention barely making the tournament to begin with.

Also ...

Originally Posted by me

Wouldn't bet on it.

Referring to the likelihood of the men's final four having a lot of drama in it. I was very wrong, for about the umpteeneth time this tournament. Let's just say I've been wrong more often than right this year.

[miami_fan]

A bit random. I missed not having the Sports Reporters show on TV this morning after the games last night.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

A bit random. I missed not having the Sports Reporters show on TV this morning after the games last night.

man that was a great show....

[Brian Swartz]

Next year at Michigan will be interesting. Dickinson and a couple others are back but nine seniors on this year's team and Wagner's expected to go pro. Theoretically elite group of recruits coming in. This will be the year it becomes more Howard's team than the roster that Beilein built.

[Atocep]

Texas Tech promotes assistant Mark Adams, which is...strange...

[JPhillips]

Baylor's D is faster than the Zags O right now.

[rjolley]

Gonzaga needed to see this earlier in the season. Seeing this kind of pressure and guard play and length across the lineup this late in the season is hard to prepare for. And, Baylor is up and ready for this while Gonzaga looks rattled.

If Gonzaga can get it under 12 by the break, they have a shot. Otherwise, I don't know if they'll be able to withstand the pressure enough to come back.

[Drake]

Suggs looks almost nothing like the kid who drained a half-court shot to win in OT in Saturday.

[JPhillips]

Does Baylor rest the starters in the second half?

[bhlloy]

Sure does feel like Baylor went up big there have been more 50/50 fouls called on them

[Galaril]

Wow Baylor with quite the final four performance blowing out both opponents by 20.

[rjolley]

Congrats to Baylor. What a great tourney run.

The game that may have mattered the most in this one is the Dec 5 Gonzaga/Baylor game that wasn't played. If that game happens, are the Gonzaga players so rattled by seeing the Baylor defense? Are they undefeated still?

Great season by Gonzaga. Very good, well rounded team that came one game short of a perfect season.

[Ksyrup]

Baylor deserves all the credit they get, but Gonzaga looked slow, tired and off. They were making some mistakes the D didn't have much to do with. Maybe they still lose if they had an easy game against UCLA, but I think this game would have been much better without the OT game 2 days earlier. At least we got to see a real end to the season.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Baylor deserves all the credit they get, but Gonzaga looked slow, tired and off. They were making some mistakes the D didn't have much to do with. Maybe they still lose if they had an easy game against UCLA, but I think this game would have been much better without the OT game 2 days earlier. At least we got to see a real end to the season.

I agree!

Baylor played with so much energy and Gonzaga played like they were expecting to coast to a championship. Very odd considering the Zags were lucky the previous game. Congrats to Baylor.

[HomerSimpson98]

Not to take anything away from Baylor, but that is a different game if the refs call some of the body checking fouls on the perimeter. I love, love, love Mitchell but he's a great defender because he moves the ball carrier off his line when they drive. Thats generally a foul, but because it wasn't called, they got more brazen with it. Zags number 3 was completely flustered by this and taken out of his game. Suggs was too early, but seemed to rebound.


Again, not to belittle their accomplishment. They shoot unbelievably. But if Mitchell and Butler get 2-3 fouls on hand checks and body checks in the first half, its a different game.

[Edward64]

Kinda glad Baylor won.

No shame in the Hogs losing in the Elite 8 to the eventual National Champion.

[Atocep]

Sean Miller out at Arizona.

[Kodos]

Bad year for the Millers.

[21C]

I don't know why but I liked this graph.
Circle Bracket of the 2021 NCAA Men’s March Madness Tournament

[sterlingice]

That's aesthetically pleasing

SI

[Ksyrup]

Makes me wish they seeded/grouped the teams by color now.

[tarcone]

Yeah I like that a lot better than a bracket

[Kodos]

That’s pretty cool.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

A ref collapsing like that is scary.

Referee Bert Smith Told He Had Blood Clot in Lung After Collapsing at NCAA Tournament | Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and Highlights

Fellas, it is okay to leave work and get a complete checkup when you pass out on the job.

The 56-year-old Buffalo native explained the doctor tricked him into sitting on the stretcher and quickly strapped him in, which led to the memorable photos of the referee looking disgruntled as he was wheeled off the court for further evaluation.

Smith said Trammel's work to diagnose the problem and the fact that his collapse came in a crowded environment with medical workers on scene may have saved his life.

[MrBug708]

UCLA landed Myles Johnson, transfer out of Rutgers

[miami_fan]

Wow...

Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey leaves Baylor for LSU

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Wow...

Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey leaves Baylor for LSU

I just read about this possibly happening this morning when I read about Fargas leaving LSU. Surprised it happened so quickly. Great hire by LSU.

[sovereignstar v2]

Thought this was kind of cool. Future lottery pick picks UW-Milwaukee (where his dad coaches) over the likes of Duke. Highest recruit in Horizon League history (duh!).

Five-star college basketball recruit Patrick Baldwin to play for father at Milwaukee

[miami_fan]

To go along with my post in the HSFB thread, this is the other story. This one I think will have more legs moving forward, I am not saying that this is the end of college basketball. I do think it will move us closer to creating a viable minor league system for the NBA outside the auspices of the NCAA.

Matt, Ryan Bewley first high school juniors to join Overtime Elite league

[JPhillips]

How will this league make money?

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Thought this was kind of cool. Future lottery pick picks UW-Milwaukee (where his dad coaches) over the likes of Duke. Highest recruit in Horizon League history (duh!).

Five-star college basketball recruit Patrick Baldwin to play for father at Milwaukee

So how do improper benefits work in this situation? Like if his dad threatened to cut him off or promised to buy him a loaded Escalade if he played for him, does that really break the rules? There were definitely colleges my parents said they wouldn't help pay for.

[miami_fan]

I don't think this needs a whole thread... yet.

High school basketball powerhouses form national league set to begin in 2021-22 season

I don't seek out national HS basketball games and I don't think I would necessarily going searching for any of these games either. We were trying to figure out the European Super League comparisons for college football and boom, it shows in HS basketball. I guess we will see where this goes.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

How will this league make money?

I don't know if it will make money but after reading somewhere that 1.6 million people watch LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball play basketball in Ukraine, I am sure someone will watch.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

How will this league make money?

Overtime, created in 2016, publishes basketball highlights, interviews with players from all levels of the sports and original content, including a series following top 2023 recruit Mikey Williams. Overtime investors include Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony and Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, as was the late NBA commissioner David Stern.

It doesn't really have to make much money directly, it already has money. As long as the investors are willing to keep it afloat with hopes of cashing out later, it could survive indefinitely by just staying in the don't-lose-too-much category

[tarcone]

Im not sure why anyone thinks this is a money grab, but maybe it is.

Anyway, there is a private girls school in St. Louis county, they are basically a college program. They travel all over the country already. The HC has a feeder program that makes him a ton of money, one of the coaches quit his full time job to just coach the 17u team, because the program makes that much money. Then there are the recruits. The program has sent girls to play for UConn.

I think this is just a natural progression. Those programs already are flush with money, Im sure, and have the ability to raise money pretty easily.

[Ksyrup]

Curious is this is going to be borne out when schedules are released because it doesn't make a ton of sense.

Sources: Multiple mid-major programs are opting to not play guarantee games against high-major programs because it gives power conference teams a "free live evaluation" of future players who could move up via the transfer portal.

The level of separation has NEVER been greater.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 25, 2021

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It doesn't really have to make much money directly, it already has money. As long as the investors are willing to keep it afloat with hopes of cashing out later, it could survive indefinitely by just staying in the don't-lose-too-much category

Once they start paying real salaries, even relatively small ones, the costs are going to rise quickly. Rich people spend money on all sorts of things, so this can be sustained at a loss, but if it has to break even or make a profit, can it do that?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Once they start paying real salaries, even relatively small ones, the costs are going to rise quickly. Rich people spend money on all sorts of things, so this can be sustained at a loss, but if it has to break even or make a profit, can it do that?

These sorts of deals often rely on profit taking down the road. Who knows what sort of investors are involved we haven't heard about, what sort of agent access might be involved, so forth & so on.

I doubt they'd be dumb enough in 2021 to put "we own 20% of your future earnings for the next 20 years" in writing in the agreements but you can bet that altruism doesn't play a role. There's a plan to generate ROI, and I doubt it's all based on selling "tokens" (or whatever that nonsense is called), whether the plan works is a whole other matter.

[tarcone]

Tampering (?) charges are being leveled at Kentucky in the transfer of Iowa guard CJ Freserick. Seems Kentucky came calling before CJ entered the portal

Just another issue with this whole thing.