2012 NCAA Tournament Thread

[ColtCrazy]

How is that not a travel when Kidd-Gilchrist does that little carry move?

[Kodos]

Hoosiers hanging in there despite severe adversity foul-wise. Would have been sweet for Watford to hit that last shot going into the half. Still, all things considered, happy going in to the half with the score this close.

[Scoobz0202]

The bad officiating may be leaning in favor of Kentucky, but it has certainly been bad both ways, imo.

[ColtCrazy]

It did even up as the half went on. Definitely cheap for both teams.

[britrock88]

Getting this in late, but man, I really detest being a UNC fan sometimes. Roy can't adapt during a game (which assistant told us not to collapse on penetration at the 4 minute TV timeout?), and uses the bench so little that the starters get exhausted (why we lost to Duke...)... Barnes is already in the pros, as far as he's concerned (12 points on 24 possessions used tonight is atrocious)... people rag on Stilman, who has a 6:1 A:T ratio and plays better defense than Marshall... Z turns it over 6 times (though the 20-20 combo is awesome regardless)... Ugh. And as our reward, we get to implode against Kansas on Sunday.

[Scoobz0202]

Badly need an Indiana run

[ColtCrazy]

Yeah, the next 3-4 minutes are key here.

[Kodos]

Welp. It was a great season for Indiana. Way more than I was expecting. Really looking forward to next year with a great recruiting class coming in. I hope somebody is able to take out Kentucky.

[Logan]

Hey TBS producer...I have better than 20/20 vision, a fortyfuckingsix inch LED TV in a well lit room, I've only had four Boddington's tonight, and yet I can't see the god damn ball go into the hoop. I hope you die.

[Radii]

wow come on wolfpack!!!

[stevew]

Kansas, WTF.

[sterlingice]

/sigh/ I come back in time to see this?

SI

[stevew]

that one ref thinks he's a superstar there.

[dave731]

this is too much!!!

[stevew]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

/sigh/ I come back in time to see this?

SI

It's probably my fault. I turned it on right as this game went to shit.

[sterlingice]

Finally, a good late game possession for KU

SI

[dave731]

LOL!! Dumb cross court pass there by NC State but we will take it!

[Scoobz0202]

I love watching the Buckeyes, but this tournament has been pretty damn lame if you ask me. The end of 95% of these games has just been shitty.

[sterlingice]

Wow. We survive again

SI

[Radii]

damn, good run NC State. I wanted to see UNC/NC State for the final four so bad.

[sterlingice]

Considering this was supposed to be a "rebuilding" year, I can't be happier about making the Elite 8

SI

[dave731]

Bill Self does an outstanding job of maturing players much quicker than they would for another coach...

[Wolfpack]

Still chewing things over on a rather lousy sports night for me (State losing and the Canes suddenly deciding they weren't interested in trying to make the playoffs anymore).

The big thing was that our guys down low never really adjusted to the game that was being called. I'll try not to sound like I'm complaining about the officiating, but the basic gist was that the Kansas bigs pretty much had the run of the joint down low, so there wasn't going to be much in the way of physical fouls called. State players never really adjusted to that and kept fruitlessly attacking the rim and getting stuffed. Leslie was able to figure out how to beat his man after a while, but Howell and Painter never did. It would help if we had a remote outside threat besides Wood that could potentially drag the defense out a bit more, but we didn't. Even so, Kansas played great defense all night and it was only some timely baskets on our part and occasional lapses by KU on offense that kept the game from being a runaway at times.

Regardless, I'm happy that we got this far and we fought and fought and almost pulled it out at the end. I haven't felt that lousy after a loss in quite a long time, but it's a good feeling to have, I suppose. Better that than resignation in watching the futile basketball program that we've had for most of the past two decades. I almost don't want to think about next year at the moment because I'm not ready to put high expectations on them. It's unfair to the new guys coming in, even if they are McD AAs. Twenty years of disappointment will take some time to expunge before I can feel safe about thinking of State as an annually contending program again. I just want to get back to this point again next year. That's not too much to ask, is it?

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Welp. It was a great season for Indiana. Way more than I was expecting. Really looking forward to next year with a great recruiting class coming in. I hope somebody is able to take out Kentucky.

I feel exactly the same way.

[Julio Riddols]

If all Indiana is losing is Verdell Jones, they will be a top 10 team next year. I'm excited as hell for the coming years - It also seems like Crean is a hell of a recruiter so hopefully this is the start of a long run at or near the top.

[rowech]

So is IU's defense really that bad? UK seemed awfully impressive last night but I'm not sure if it's because how good they were or how horrible IU might be on defense.

[Lathum]

Wow. OSU is a 3.5 point favorite.

[Johnny93g]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

If all Indiana is losing is Verdell Jones, they will be a top 10 team next year. I'm excited as hell for the coming years - It also seems like Crean is a hell of a recruiter so hopefully this is the start of a long run at or near the top.

They lose Jones, Tom Pritchard(backup bigman, primarily in there for defense), Matt Roth (Great 3 point shooter), and Daniel Moore who didn't play this year and is a former walkon.

Roth still could get an extra year, but we are already oversigned by one with the 2012 recruiting class, so I don't think there will be room, unless someone pays their own way or Peter Jurkin(incoming center) goes to prep school.

[Johnny93g]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I feel exactly the same way.

+1

An incredibly enjoyable season to watch. I think i saw all but 2 games. This group grew so much this year. November can't come soon enough. If the freshman class is as good as advertised, this team will be deep at every position, fun to watch again, and hard to beat. Coach Crean has done an amazing job these past 4 years!

[MrBug708]

Anyone but Kentucky. Even though they are likely to vacate this title with Cal, winning it puts them at #8, which is getting to close for comfort

[Johnny93g]

Originally Posted by rowech

So is IU's defense really that bad? UK seemed awfully impressive last night but I'm not sure if it's because how good they were or how horrible IU might be on defense.

It's the big weakness on IU, for sure. Hulls struggles to guard athletic guards. Kentucky is full of big, explosive guys who were very motivated.

So ya, Indiana isn't a great defensive team, but they aren't as horrible as 102-90 would suggest.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Wow. OSU is a 3.5 point favorite.

If I were a bettin' man..

[Scoobz0202]

I hope Buford is out practicing that jump at this moment.

Please show up Buford.

[dave731]

Have we seen an Elite Eight this good in recent years? I don't mean from a talent standpoint but from a program standpoint. Syracuse, Ohio State, Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, North Carolina are all powerhouse schools that really reload rather than rebuild. Louisville is coached by one of the best tournament coaches in the game in Pitino and has been a top 25 team for a long time now. Baylor is the newcomer to the party but they were just in the Elite Eight a couple years ago and have appeared to have turned the table. I am very excited about this Elite Eight!

[k0ruptr]

it's awesome that Siva is Samoan. that is all.

[k0ruptr]

Florida on fire , wow!

[k0ruptr]

Louisville needs Siva on the floor the rest of this game. Such a different team without him

[dave731]

Siva is the reason I have Louisville in the Championship game...he is a PG who always makes something happen and it is usually good.

[k0ruptr]

Dirty!

[dave731]

More horrid officiating on that call...

[dave731]

Bah....I think Siva just fouled out...

[whomario]

Wasn´t that Siva´s 5th on that entry pass ? What a stupid way to pick that up ... Come on Rick, you´ve gotta tell them not to switch at that point with Siva in foul trouble like that ...

[Karlifornia]

Was that Siva's 5th? They didn't say before they cut to commercial. That would be huge. Good game right now, though.

Sometimes a slightly boring first half of the tournament can lead to the later round games being awesome. Hopefully that's what we get.

[dave731]

Louisville can still win this thing....

[dave731]

How is that NOT a foul? Louisville is not getting the calls in the paint at all!

[whomario]

I guess much like his brother he can shoot you into games but can also shoot you out of it, 2 stupid drives there.

[Karlifornia]

Pitino using his last TO a little early maybe? We'll see...Louisville's offensive identity is...shaky. Time to draw up something clever, Rick.

[MizzouRah]

C'mon Louisville!!!

[whomario]

this was a bizare sequence, this tournament would make for a nice blooper reel just looking at late game execution.

[Karlifornia]

Oh wow...what a sequence...terrible throw away by Louisville, then the Florida player is so stunned he's got the ball he walks.