2018-19 College Basketball thread

[tarcone]

Iowa beats Indiana. A rare thing or sure.

B1G looking to put 9 teams in the tourney. A deep, tough league.

[tarcone]

Iowa comes back after being down by 10 with about a minute and a half left to win in a Jordan Bohanon.

[bhlloy]

Interested to see what people’s predictions are for Zion as an NBA prospect? Feels like 10 years ago he’d be potentially be one of the top prospects in a long time, but does his game really fit today’s NBA, and does his shooting improve enough to at least be in the elite conversation?

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Interested to see what people’s predictions are for Zion as an NBA prospect? Feels like 10 years ago he’d be potentially be one of the top prospects in a long time, but does his game really fit today’s NBA, and does his shooting improve enough to at least be in the elite conversation?

He's a stretch 4 in the mold of Draymond Green. Beyond the athletic ability, he's got the hustle to impact the game beyond the highlight dunks. If he continues to work on his game, he'll be a high impact two-way player, probably a perennial All Star. If not, he will be a highlight reel dunker who plays hard on both ends.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Interested to see what people’s predictions are for Zion as an NBA prospect? Feels like 10 years ago he’d be potentially be one of the top prospects in a long time, but does his game really fit today’s NBA, and does his shooting improve enough to at least be in the elite conversation?

Still an off the charts prospect. He's hitting about 67% of his free throws which is close to what Brandon Ingram hit at Duke and suggests he should be able to develop into a competent shooter at some point.

75% from 2, 2 blocks, 2.2 steals, and 6 trips to the line per game are some incredible numbers. Everything suggests elite 2 way player with the potential to be a generational talent with improved range.

I honestly can't imagine a scenario outside of health or off the court issues that would prevent him from being an annual all star and eventual MVP candidate.

[stevew]

Ja Morant on ESPN2 tonight. Might check it out as he’s likely to be one of the possibilities for the Cavs this summer. Sexton is pocket lint(tm, Quik), no issues if we take another point.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by stevew

Ja Morant on ESPN2 tonight. Might check it out as he’s likely to be one of the possibilities for the Cavs this summer. Sexton is pocket lint(tm, Quik), no issues if we take another point.

Watched some of their games on ESPN plus. He is nasty. Freak of an athlete.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by stevew

Ja Morant on ESPN2 tonight. Might check it out as he’s likely to be one of the possibilities for the Cavs this summer. Sexton is pocket lint(tm, Quik), no issues if we take another point.

Watched him play when they played WVU in their NCAA opener last year. He was the best pro prospect on the floor didn't look overmatched with Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles guarding him.

[stevew]

Are these low major refs this bad? Seen like 4-5 horrible calls in the last 10 mins of this Murray state game.

[Galaril]

Houston Cougars could be reincarnation of the early 80s Cougars now at 24-1 with a fairly clear path to 30-1 and winning their conference. There. NET rating is about 5-6 so they are right there .

[tarcone]

Phi Slamma Jamma

[Lathum]

Their only loss was on a bs charge at the buzzer where they would have won. Could be undefeated.

[tarcone]

Iowa and Rutgers have a crazy last few seconds.
Rutfgers hits a a 3 with 3 seconds to go up 1.
Iowa heaves it down the court, it gets tapped to our freshman Joe Weiskamp in the corner. Bang, game winner.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Grant Williams (who Barnes noted was perhaps the only player who showed up ready to play) said getting manhandled by Kentucky proved "we were phonies".
Both he & Admiral Schofield said basically that this was a loss they needed, they'd stopped working & started taking things for granted.

That about sums it up right now, and it's certainly a response I can live with. Problem is that this is one of the thinnest teams I've seen since the Thin Gold Line era at Georgia Tech. Anything past six deep and there's dead weight on the floor. I'm not sure how sustainable playing all out every night is for a six man lineup, not in today's game.

[Brian Swartz]

Similar issues for Michigan who plays seven most of the time, though they haven't been as good as Tennessee for quite a while after a stellar start to the year. I can see either team winning the national title if they get hot - or going out in the second round, particularly if a key player or two gets hurt/has a crappy game.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Similar issues for Michigan who plays seven most of the time, though they haven't been as good as Tennessee for quite a while after a stellar start to the year. I can see either team winning the national title if they get hot - or going out in the second round, particularly if a key player or two gets hurt/has a crappy game.

This frustrates me when doing my bracket. And I like to lean on the B1G.

MSU screwed me last year.

[HomerSimpson98]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Grant Williams (who Barnes noted was perhaps the only player who showed up ready to play) said getting manhandled by Kentucky proved "we were phonies".
Both he & Admiral Schofield said basically that this was a loss they needed, they'd stopped working & started taking things for granted.

That about sums it up right now, and it's certainly a response I can live with. Problem is that this is one of the thinnest teams I've seen since the Thin Gold Line era at Georgia Tech. Anything past six deep and there's dead weight on the floor. I'm not sure how sustainable playing all out every night is for a six man lineup, not in today's game.

Good point, but its doable in the Tourney since there are timeouts every 20 seconds so they should be able to stay fresh. I saw the Vols live a few weeks and I was blown away by their selflessness, ease at which they score, and the fact that they can score from anywhere on the court. I really like this team and think yesterday was just a blip at a tough place to win on the road at.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by HomerSimpson98

Good point, but its doable in the Tourney since there are timeouts every 20 seconds so they should be able to stay fresh. I saw the Vols live a few weeks and I was blown away by their selflessness, ease at which they score, and the fact that they can score from anywhere on the court. I really like this team and think yesterday was just a blip at a tough place to win on the road at.

It's the mileage that worries me. A lot of wear & tear starting to accumulate on the reliable six, especially with their knack for making a lot of games close (requiring them to play even more minutes).

It just feels like that their luck is going to run out, sooner or later. One foul plagued night for Williams & they're heading for the door

[Brian Swartz]

The big concern I see with Tennessee is defense. Opposite of Michigan in that regard - they can score with anyone if playing well, but it's rare for any one to shoot well for six straight games in the tournament. Alexander is their only real big and that size issue was a problem against Kentucky. As they say, quickness and size are things you can't teach. Tennessee has one, but not the other and that's not going away. Another thing that might go away but there's no sign of it yet is they don't defend the 3-point line (33% allowed, 127th nationally). That's not to sit here and criticize an excellent team - they are that, but at the same time there are definitely legit concerns. During their long, impressive winning streak they beat no sure-fire NCAA teams and only two that are marginal at this point. They basically ran the table on a bunch of NIT teams. There's a lot to be said for that, and complacency is natural - but they aren't as tested as some others - Kentucky was literally the first really good team they'd played since Gonzaga - so I don't think we really know about them yet.

[bhlloy]

Ok, so the hook and hold flagrant has to be one of the more absurd rules I’ve seen in a while. There has to be a happy medium between calling the borderline dirty play that injured Haas and a guy getting a flagrant for accidentally grabbing another player while jostling for a rebound, surely?

[digamma]

This is the best Ivy League from top to bottom I've ever seen.

Yale leads the way at the halfway point at 7-1. There is talk that their best player Miye Oni will leave after his junior year for the draft. He's that good except when he plays Harvard. Except for one game in the Ivy tournament his freshman season, he's literally thrown up all over himself when they play the Crimson, which speaking of...

is 6-2 and coming off a huge weekend sweep at Penn and Princeton. Harvard has played the entire season without reigning Ivy player of the year Seth Towns. There's still hope he comes back this season, though due to weird Ivy rules, he has incentive to sit out the year, play next year at Harvard and then transfer for a post-grad year (no Ivy red shirts once you enroll in school for the year). Harvard owns a 15 point win over Yale that quite honestly wasn't that close, but they also have a baffling blow out loss to 2-6 Dartmouth. Bryce Aiken, who was first team all Ivy his freshman season before being injured most of last season and the first half of this season, is back and carrying the load.

Harvard and Yale seem locks at this point for the top four and the Ivy tournament.

Princeton also has a great shot, as they sit at 5-3, but they started 4-0 and are 1-3 in their last four. They have some great pieces, but haven't put it together over the course of the season. They haven't had anyone who can step up and take over games in the clutch.

Cornell is 5-3, but plays 4 of their last 6 on the road. They have a flat out scorer in Matt Morgan who can keep them in any game. They have a win over Harvard, so right now they control any tiebreaker with teams third place or below.

Penn was picked in the top three to start the season, but they haven't been able to put it together in Ivy play. They sit at 3-5, but have 4 of 6 remaining at home. They have the most consistent big man in the league--AJ Brodeur, but have had erratic guard play. They blew a chance to get a win at home over Harvard, leading 61-55 with a minute left on Saturday night.

Brown is fun to watch. They don't play much defense but have a few guys who can really score. They are 3-5 also, and with Yale as a travel partner, may be able to sneak up on some teams worried about the other game of the weekend.

Dartmouth plays GSW-hoop and just shoots the three. They are 2-6, but four of their losses have been one possession games. And, as I said they blew out Harvard.

Columbia is 1-7, but also has 4 one possession losses.

The Ivy tournament is at Yale, which gives the Bulldogs a big advantage, but it will be a fun weekend in any case.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by digamma

This is the best Ivy League from top to bottom I've ever seen.

Yale leads the way at the halfway point at 7-1. There is talk that their best player Miye Oni will leave after his junior year for the draft. He's that good except when he plays Harvard. Except for one game in the Ivy tournament his freshman season, he's literally thrown up all over himself when they play the Crimson, which speaking of...

is 6-2 and coming off a huge weekend sweep at Penn and Princeton. Harvard has played the entire season without reigning Ivy player of the year Seth Towns. There's still hope he comes back this season, though due to weird Ivy rules, he has incentive to sit out the year, play next year at Harvard and then transfer for a post-grad year (no Ivy red shirts once you enroll in school for the year). Harvard owns a 15 point win over Yale that quite honestly wasn't that close, but they also have a baffling blow out loss to 2-6 Dartmouth. Bryce Aiken, who was first team all Ivy his freshman season before being injured most of last season and the first half of this season, is back and carrying the load.

Harvard and Yale seem locks at this point for the top four and the Ivy tournament.

Princeton also has a great shot, as they sit at 5-3, but they started 4-0 and are 1-3 in their last four. They have some great pieces, but haven't put it together over the course of the season. They haven't had anyone who can step up and take over games in the clutch.

Cornell is 5-3, but plays 4 of their last 6 on the road. They have a flat out scorer in Matt Morgan who can keep them in any game. They have a win over Harvard, so right now they control any tiebreaker with teams third place or below.

Penn was picked in the top three to start the season, but they haven't been able to put it together in Ivy play. They sit at 3-5, but have 4 of 6 remaining at home. They have the most consistent big man in the league--AJ Brodeur, but have had erratic guard play. They blew a chance to get a win at home over Harvard, leading 61-55 with a minute left on Saturday night.

Brown is fun to watch. They don't play much defense but have a few guys who can really score. They are 3-5 also, and with Yale as a travel partner, may be able to sneak up on some teams worried about the other game of the weekend.

Dartmouth plays GSW-hoop and just shoots the three. They are 2-6, but four of their losses have been one possession games. And, as I said they blew out Harvard.

Columbia is 1-7, but also has 4 one possession losses.

The Ivy tournament is at Yale, which gives the Bulldogs a big advantage, but it will be a fun weekend in any case.

I checked the scores at one point on Saturday night. At that time Penn was up 4 and the other theee games were all within one point. Penn may miss the tournament but have wins over Villanova and at Temple.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Iowa and Rutgers have a crazy last few seconds.
Rutfgers hits a a 3 with 3 seconds to go up 1.
Iowa heaves it down the court, it gets tapped to our freshman Joe Weiskamp in the corner. Bang, game winner.

A heave that was so offline it nearly went off the top/side of the backboard before banking in doesn't deserve to be described as a "bang, game winner".

[Scoobz0202]

Zion down with a knee injury 33 seconds into the Duke-UNC game. His shoe upper literally separated from the sole.



Wonder how many people are regretting that $2500-3000 ticket now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Is there a full moon or something?

First there's the bizarre shoe incident with Duke.
And here in Athens, tied at 67 with 0.5 on the clock and Miss State at the line, shooter misses ... but a stuffed animal (yes, a bulldog, seriously) flies onto the floor just as he shot.

That's a technical foul. He hits the tech, State wins 68-67 and extends the UGAg losing streak to 7, 11 in the SEC.

[JPhillips]

Sounds like an accident, but wow...

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim hits, kills man walking on I-690: source

[Kodos]

Man, being a Hoosiers fan this season has been torturous. Constant lazy passes that become turnovers, nobody who can shoot (or defend) a three, poor free throw percentage. Hopefully things get better when the Crean holdovers are out of the program.

[Lathum]

Some guy in a March Madness Facebook group I am in is trying to argue Zion is the best college basketball player of all time...

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Sounds like an accident, but wow...

Ugh.

Had to deal with a few of these when I worked in insurance, and while it is horrible for the victim, it can be terrible for the person who was driving the car.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Ugh.

Had to deal with a few of these when I worked in insurance, and while it is horrible for the victim, it can be terrible for the person who was driving the car.

As I've gotten older my night vision is much worse than it was when I was twenty. I could definitely imagine a scenario where I hit someone on the road that I just didn't see until it was too late.

[molson]

I wish Boeheim just had a driver, especially at night in the winter, but, I'm sure he's too stubborn for that. He's been driving on the highways around Syracuse for almost 60 years.

[albionmoonlight]

Someone on twitter pointed out that the bidding for Zion's new shoe deal will be very interesting.

Adidas is about to unveil its "Our shoes won't explode and tear up your knee" ad campaign.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

As I've gotten older my night vision is much worse than it was when I was twenty. I could definitely imagine a scenario where I hit someone on the road that I just didn't see until it was too late.

Seems like they could come up with technology to help with night vision driving. I know mine isn't as good as it used to be either.

[molson]

This is close to where the accident happened.

Google Maps

According to the police reports, the first vehicle hit something and was disabled in the middle of the road. The driver and passenger were outside near the guardrail on the left. Boheim tried to go around the disabled vehicle and hit one of the people near the guardrail. This is kind of a notorious stretch of road, barely any shoulder, near very busy onramps and offramps. A lot of the Syracuse highways crisscross right through the city and kind of intersect with local traffic, it's a nightmare in the winter and at night.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Is there a full moon or something?

First there's the bizarre shoe incident with Duke.
And here in Athens, tied at 67 with 0.5 on the clock and Miss State at the line, shooter misses ... but a stuffed animal (yes, a bulldog, seriously) flies onto the floor just as he shot.

That's a technical foul. He hits the tech, State wins 68-67 and extends the UGAg losing streak to 7, 11 in the SEC.

I was actually watching the end of Georgia-State while waiting for Duke/UNC, and the one thing I'll add that no one is mentioning is that Mississippi State's best player (and an 82% FT shooter) had one more FT attempt anyways (that he ended up intentionally missing after he hit the technical), so it's not quite as egregious as the "Mississippi State wins on a technical foul" headlines make it seem.

Also an absolutely horrible foul by Georgia in the first place, once State took took to long to start driving with the game tied and was forced into an 18 footer going sideways to win it.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by molson

This is close to where the accident happened.

Google Maps

According to the police reports, the first vehicle hit something and was disabled in the middle of the road. The driver and passenger were outside near the guardrail on the left. Boheim tried to go around the disabled vehicle and hit one of the people near the guardrail. This is kind of a notorious stretch of road, barely any shoulder, near very busy onramps and offramps. A lot of the Syracuse highways crisscross right through the city and kind of intersect with local traffic, it's a nightmare in the winter and at night.

And not a street light to be seen on that stretch. Sad situation.

[tarcone]

Curious on how you guys take this.

Iowa play-by-play announcer was suspended indefinitely for this comment:

The press release was distributed via email with an included a five-second audio clip on which Dolphin said “They (the Terrapins) had some pretty good long range shooting and then (Maryland big man Bruno) Fernando was King Kong at the end of the game.”

Also, this is the University that did nothing to the AD who was sued successfully for discrimination concerning women coaches.

What say you?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Curious on how you guys take this.

Iowa play-by-play announcer was suspended indefinitely for this comment:

The press release was distributed via email with an included a five-second audio clip on which Dolphin said “They (the Terrapins) had some pretty good long range shooting and then (Maryland big man Bruno) Fernando was King Kong at the end of the game.”

Also, this is the University that did nothing to the AD who was sued successfully for discrimination concerning women coaches.

What say you?

All depends on who I want to give the benefit of the doubt.

If the university already had to deal with a discrimination lawsuit in the athletics department, I am assuming all employees within the athletic realm were warned against "discriminatory" behavior and new rules were put into place. I am also assuming this is not the first time Mr. Dolphin referred to a player as some sort of animal and they know their employee better that I do. I don't know him so I don't know what if anything was behind his King Kong reference. If my assumptions are correct, than Mr. Dolphin took a chance and got punished.

If all my assumptions are wrong, then Mr. Dolphin got screwed by the university who deems him more replaceable than the AD and he should probably find himself a good lawyer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

That Iowa story has GOT to be some sort of joke, right?

There isn't a pbp person in the country that ought to accept a job from them if that's what they deemed worthy of suspension and there's no extreme underlying context beyond what's here.

I mean, seriously, as quoted it's nothing more than a way of saying someone was "in beast mode" a phrase so mainstream that it's almost cliched (not to mention being trademarked for some usages by Marshawn himself years ago).

Unless there's a LOT more to this than indicated, seriously, they ought to find themselves unable to put together a broadcast for lack of anyone willing to work for them.

[Scoobz0202]

If I heard that there isn't a part of me that would have thought there was something racial involved. I would have absolutely assumed he was just saying he went "beast mode" as well and I'd probably be called a "SJW" by many.


Edit: Tarcone would know, but this post caused me to read more into it. I see a lot of people more familiar with Iowa athletics describing Gary Dolphin as a great representative of Iowa and somebody who has no history of even hinting towards an insensitive/racial tone for whatever that is worth.

[cuervo72]

Yeah, there has to be more than that. Otherwise, that's being really oversensitive.

[tarcone]

Dolphin was suspended 2 games earlier this year for this:

Word spread around social media that Dolphin made an off-handed comment regarding Iowa wing Maishe Dailey and Iowa's ability to recruit. The news spread quickly on social media and soon overshadowed the Iowa 6-0 start. Fran McCaffery didn't do the postgame show following Iowa's 69-68 win over Pittsburgh.

“How do we not get anybody like that?” Dolphin said. “It's just year after year after year. Go get a quality piece like that. Just get one! They've got three or four.”

"“We get Maishe Dailey," Dolphin said in a tone of disgust. "Dribbles into a double-team with his head down. God.”

This was said on an open mic during a commercial break.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Dolphin was suspended 2 games earlier this year for this:

Word spread around social media that Dolphin made an off-handed comment regarding Iowa wing Maishe Dailey and Iowa's ability to recruit. The news spread quickly on social media and soon overshadowed the Iowa 6-0 start. Fran McCaffery didn't do the postgame show following Iowa's 69-68 win over Pittsburgh.

“How do we not get anybody like that?” Dolphin said. “It's just year after year after year. Go get a quality piece like that. Just get one! They've got three or four.”

"“We get Maishe Dailey," Dolphin said in a tone of disgust. "Dribbles into a double-team with his head down. God.”

This was said on an open mic during a commercial break.

If people heard even 5% of what gets said during commercial breaks ... hell, even 0.5% might be too much for sensitive souls.

[Drake]

Why am I still hearing people talking about IU being under consideration for the NCAA tournament? We're 13-14, having lost something like 12 of the last 13. I don't care if we win all of the remaining games, we're not an NCAA tournament team.

And if, by some fluke, they won the B1G tourney for the automatic bid, I would petition the NCAA to change the automatic bid rules to exclude this team, because IU making the dance would just be stupid at this point.

(And, look, I don't think IU is even that bad. We're close to thinking about considering the possibility of being a good team if we hold our heads at just the right angle and squint a little bit. We seem to play good teams close and just suck it at the end, so by my count, we could probably be 20-7 just as easily as we're 13-14 if we get some lucky bounces. But the team's fatal flaw seems to be that we too often drop into what I like to call "chase defense" instead of, you know, actually defending the ball. I'm pretty sure this team's motto is "phenomenal cosmic talent; itty bitty mental space".)

But the body of work just says nope, and anybody who says otherwise should probably have their press credentials stripped.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Drake

Why am I still hearing people talking about IU being under consideration for the NCAA tournament? We're 13-14, having lost something like 12 of the last 13. I don't care if we win all of the remaining games, we're not an NCAA tournament team.

And if, by some fluke, they won the B1G tourney for the automatic bid, I would petition the NCAA to change the automatic bid rules to exclude this team, because IU making the dance would just be stupid at this point.

(And, look, I don't think IU is even that bad. We're close to thinking about considering the possibility of being a good team if we hold our heads at just the right angle and squint a little bit. We seem to play good teams close and just suck it at the end, so by my count, we could probably be 20-7 just as easily as we're 13-14 if we get some lucky bounces. But the team's fatal flaw seems to be that we too often drop into what I like to call "chase defense" instead of, you know, actually defending the ball. I'm pretty sure this team's motto is "phenomenal cosmic talent; itty bitty mental space".)

But the body of work just says nope, and anybody who says otherwise should probably have their press credentials stripped.

It is the hype machine.

The better they make IU look, and other bad BIG10 teams, the easier it is to justify the amount of at large bids they get, especially when they leave a mid major our for a BIG10 team.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If people heard even 5% of what gets said during commercial breaks ... hell, even 0.5% might be too much for sensitive souls.

Agreed. On the other hand, if we did, we would probably hear many of those caught on tape saying that what we heard was not representative of who they really are.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Drake

Why am I still hearing people talking about IU being under consideration for the NCAA tournament?

Because as of this morning they're still 57th in the NCAA new official NET rankings.

That's 2 spots HIGHER than Temple (one of Lunardi's last four in), one spot behind Bama (another of Lunardi's last four), and three spots behind Minnesota (another of those last four).

That's right in the mix, and it's pretty hard to blame "the media" for that when the NCAA's own shiny new rankings has them in the exact same tier. They're a two game winning streak from being projected as "in", not just "under consideration"

edit to add: a look at their NCAA "team sheet" (every team sheet is public) says that it's their three wins over teams in the top 20 that's boosting their scores. Even at just 5-10 vs the "Quadrant 1" teams that's a lot more of the highest valued wins that a lot of teams have (Bama is 2-6 vs Q1s, their whole resume is based mostly on beating UK).

The impact of beating even a single good team is even more illustrated by Penn State being ranked #60. They're 10-16 overall, just 2-12 vs Q1 teams ... but wins over #7 and #13 have them sitting where they are.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Incidentally, the oh-so-maligned RPI?

It has Indiana at #98, much more in line with your feelings about them.

(then again it also has Minnesota at #50)

[Drake]

Thanks for the info, Jon. I haven't been keeping up on the NET metric...just watching them play. (I guess I'm old school that way.)

I guess that explains it.

[tarcone]

Indiana is a moot point. They have Wisconsin and Michigan State next. They could and probably will lose both. NIT here they come. Unless they win the Tourney, which they wont.