2010 NCAA Tournament (and NIT) Thread

[Abe Sargent]

Good job Butler

[RainMaker]

Crazy defensive game.

[k0ruptr]

If Butler wins one more game, how does 2010 National Champion Butler Bulldogs sound? wow haha

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Good job Butler

yeah, happy for them definitely. They´ve been a good team so often in recent years.

good job by michigan state without lucas, although they let Butler dictate the game tempo way too much.

[k0ruptr]

btw, I wonder what the pre season odds were in vegas for Butler as national Champs. I'm thinking some people coulda made a killing.

[k0ruptr]

dola, im thinking at least 100:1 but havent looked it up

[TargetPractice6]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

i hate that strategy. (fouling) i don't know why.

It seems risky to me. What if the team goes to foul a guy and he goes into a shooting motion? Could be three free throws or the guy could make the shot and have a free throw to win. Even if it's just two foul shots they could make the first, miss the second, get the rebound and make a three to win it. It just seems to me if you're up three in that situation and you don't foul there is no way you can lose in regulation, but by fouling you give the other team a least a small chance to win it. Worked out for Butler, though.

[Young Drachma]

Oh noes! The ratings will be horrible!

I knew the Bulldogs could beat MSU. The Spartans have been squeaking by for far too long to get past that Butler squad.

[k0ruptr]

the only site I found that still had pre season odds still up was bet online, and they didnt even list butler LOL,. they had USC at 250:1 at 60th and only listed 60 teams.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

dola, im thinking at least 100:1 but havent looked it up

Opened at 75-1.

http://www.nsawins.com/betting/colle...l-championshi/

[panerd]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

btw, I wonder what the pre season odds were in vegas for Butler as national Champs. I'm thinking some people coulda made a killing.

Apperently 75-1 just at the beginning of the tournament. I found this guy through a search and had never heard of him before but I may have to start following this guy's advice...

Butler's Odds to Win the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament

[ColtCrazy]

I took my son up yesterday to some of the fan activities they had (and met Dickie V). It's unreal how much support is running around for Butler. I know IU fans like me, and Purdue fans too, are all rallying around Butler....but I met people that had traveled in just to be a part of the atmosphere.

This was a great game, and it's great to see a team like Butler win it. I'm hoping WV can beat Duke, although can you imagine the national slant if it's a Butler-Duke final. 90/10? Higher?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by TargetPractice6

It seems risky to me. What if the team goes to foul a guy and he goes into a shooting motion? Could be three free throws or the guy could make the shot and have a free throw to win. Even if it's just two foul shots they could make the first, miss the second, get the rebound and make a three to win it. It just seems to me if you're up three in that situation and you don't foul there is no way you can lose in regulation, but by fouling you give the other team a least a small chance to win it. Worked out for Butler, though.

But if your team is ball conscious, you don't worry because you trust your players to execute when the player has to miss the second one on the rebound. It's a much better strategy so long as your players know how to execute and you trust them. Defending is difficult and too risky and too much can go wrong and the foul strategy makes more sense because it puts enormous pressure on the other squad to make the shot(s) at a critical juncture.

It's not always a good strategy, but there, it's preferable to leaving it to chance.

[k0ruptr]

yep, just seen 75 : 1 . but apparently a bunch of betting sites didnt even have them listed.

[Abe Sargent]

Yay Da'Sean Butler!

[ColtCrazy]

I will say this, Izzo is just one great coach. Getting them to the Final Four without Lucas was a great achievement. He'll be back again and again I'm sure.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, here we go in a few.....let's....go.......Mountaineers!!!!

[DaddyTorgo]

awesome!! happy to see a mid-major succeeding!!!!

if butler had frigging scored in that 10 minute drought the game woulda been a blowout

[Abe Sargent]

Yeah, but if Butler hadn;t scored like 20 points off turnovers, then MSu woulda won. Fewer turnovers = MSU win

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I will say this, Izzo is just one great coach. Getting them to the Final Four without Lucas was a great achievement. He'll be back again and again I'm sure.

Yeah, sad to see a loser in that game. Was rooting for both programs.

[RainMaker]

And Butler should be real dangerous next year. Mack and Howard are coming back and maybe Hayward doesn't leave early (although he'd be dumb not to).

[Racer]

Being an alumni of a fellow Horizon League school (Valpo), it's great to see to Butler playing for the national championship.

[RainMaker]

The Horizon is no slouch. They've had some succesful tourney teams in that conference. UW-GB, UW-M, Valpo, and Cleveland State. Back in the day I remember Detroit putting together some strong teams and were decent seeds.

[Scoobz0202]

That was tough to watch.

(Butler injury)

[kingfc22]

Can't stand how Duke games are officiated.

[Dr. Sak]

Yeah they are clearly getting all the calls in this one.

[Abe Sargent]

That sucked

[Abe Sargent]

Butler, pelase win on Monday. Pretty please.

[k0ruptr]

I'll take Butler over Duke

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

I'll take Butler over Duke

I wouldn't. Despite whatever calls they got, Duke looked their best tonight. I think they'll win comfortably Monday.

[MizzouRah]

Should be a good game... at least I hope.

[timmynausea]

Best WVU basketball season in my lifetime by far, but Da'Sean Butler rolling around in agony really sours the ending.

[Swaggs]

That was a tough ending. They played/shot great and we did not play very well, at all. My one complaint w/ the officials was that I really thought they let Zoubek get by with a number of moving screens (where he used his big body to plow through his and another defender) that opened up a lot of wide open threes. But, at the end of the day, Duke's big 3 shot so well, it didn't really matter.

I hate that Da'Sean Butler went out like that. Such a nice guy and great player. I really hope he didn't suffer a long term injury. I don't know if he is an NBA caliber player, but I really hate the thought of him never missing a game (to my knowledge) in four years and then having to go through the pain and suffering of an injury and rehab, when he should be enjoying the end of his career and his last few weeks of college.

[Swaggs]

Nolan Smith was amazing, too.

He looks like the tourney MVP to me, if Duke wins.

[Swaggs]

Sounds like Da'Sean Butler "only" suffered a sprained knee -- so, it looks like it won't be anything too bad.

[molson]

Butler was ranked #10 and #11 in the pre-season polls, so I don't think the odds against them winning could have been too crazy.

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Can't stand how Duke games are officiated.

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Yeah they are clearly getting all the calls in this one.

Far be it for me to defend Duke on this front, given State routinely gets railroaded whenever they play Duke (or UNC), but you are aware that the foul shot disparity was heavily in West Virginia's favor, right? (19 for WVU, 9 for Duke)

Also, Duke committed 16 fouls to WV's 12. Could it be higher? Sure, but it wouldn't have made a huge difference in this game anyway. WVU didn't play very good defense from what I saw (atypical for them and happened in the worst possible game).

[Groundhog]

Lack of WVU's fouls was pretty much a direct result of the fact that Duke seemingly shot a 3 every single possession.

[EagleFan]

Go Butler!!!!

It will be tough for them having to play Duke and the refs but I hope they can pull it off.

[spleen1015]

Hayward isn't going to go pro. He'll stick around for 4 years.

If Butler goes 11 minutes without a basketball against Duke, they'll get blown out. I think Butler's problem is going to end up being Matt Howard in foul trouble. Once he got 2 fouls in the first half, their offense went stagnant. The same thing happened in the 2nd half with Howard out of the game. At the start of the 2nd half, Butler played much better because Howard was in the game.

[spleen1015]

Dola, it cracks me up how folks talk about the refs and Duke.

There's no fucking way they won because they are a good team. The refs had to help them win it.

I don't see anyone bitching about all of the fouls called against MSU, putting 3 of their better players on the bench for long stretches.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Far be it for me to defend Duke on this front, given State routinely gets railroaded whenever they play Duke (or UNC), but you are aware that the foul shot disparity was heavily in West Virginia's favor, right? (19 for WVU, 9 for Duke)

Also, Duke committed 16 fouls to WV's 12. Could it be higher? Sure, but it wouldn't have made a huge difference in this game anyway. WVU didn't play very good defense from what I saw (atypical for them and happened in the worst possible game).

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Dola, it cracks me up how folks talk about the refs and Duke.

There's no fucking way they won because they are a good team. The refs had to help them win it.

I don't see anyone bitching about all of the fouls called against MSU, putting 3 of their better players on the bench for long stretches.

I was actually joking around. I'm a Duke fan and just chuckle how everytime they win, it was because the refs.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

If Butler goes 11 minutes without a basketball against Duke, they'll get blown out.

11 minutes without a basketball would get most people blown out

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

11 minutes without a basketball would get most people blown out

Not when you play MSU!

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Hayward isn't going to go pro. He'll stick around for 4 years.

Before the tourney began he was a late 1st rounder. Now I'd say he's probably a mid-1st rounder. I think he'd be crazy to stay, as I can't imagine his stock getting too much better than that.

I love watching him play at Butler, but I don't know how his game projects to the NBA.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Sounds like Da'Sean Butler "only" suffered a sprained knee -- so, it looks like it won't be anything too bad.

If that was indeed a knee sprain, he may be the biggest wuss in the world. I made a crude joke to a friend last night that given his emotion, that was either a very severe knee injury or he was crying about the money he just lost in the draft. If that was a sprain, makes me think my bad joke might have been true.

I'm not exactly a tough guy but I've had a severe knee injury so I know what it feels like. I wish the guy the best and I hope for his sake it isn't serious, but it was a sprain he over acted.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Far be it for me to defend Duke on this front, given State routinely gets railroaded whenever they play Duke (or UNC), but you are aware that the foul shot disparity was heavily in West Virginia's favor, right? (19 for WVU, 9 for Duke)

Also, Duke committed 16 fouls to WV's 12. Could it be higher? Sure, but it wouldn't have made a huge difference in this game anyway. WVU didn't play very good defense from what I saw (atypical for them and happened in the worst possible game).

I'll admit I'm a homer for Duke and Coach K but people talking about the four disparity makes me think I wasn't watching the same game they were. Duke played physical and got called for more fouls. No surprise there, and seems to contradict the theory that the officials weren't calling a balanced game.

With Bryant out Duke's gameplan was to be physical with WVU. They played WVU tight. I think people are equating tight defense with fouls, and that's not always the case.

I also agree with Wolfpack that WVU played a weak defensive game. I've seen them play better defense but I think Duke pressed them enough on the offensive end that it took some of the bite and energy out of their defense. Bryant's injury didn't help matters, and Duke exploited that. Great coaching and execution to me.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

If that was indeed a knee sprain, he may be the biggest wuss in the world. I made a crude joke to a friend last night that given his emotion, that was either a very severe knee injury or he was crying about the money he just lost in the draft. If that was a sprain, makes me think my bad joke might have been true.

I'm not exactly a tough guy but I've had a severe knee injury so I know what it feels like. I wish the guy the best and I hope for his sake it isn't serious, but it was a sprain he over acted.

Because he should not give a fuck that he no longer can compete with his teammates for a chance at a national championship. Are we really at a point that we are questioning how players react to injuries?

[timmynausea]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

If that was indeed a knee sprain, he may be the biggest wuss in the world.

And Duke fans wonder why they're hated across the country. I don't think he's had an MRI yet, but the trainers are hopeful that it's just a sprain. Butler said after the game that he'd never been injured before, so he was more scared than anything else and really emotional/frustrated because he knew he was likely done with an awesome college career. (The other senior on the team, Wellington Smith, cried quite a bit when it was over, too.) I also think that was the moment when the WVU players went from feeling like they would come back - they've come back from double digit deficits many times this year - to feeling like they were definitely going to lose.

And if you don't think that the idea of his NBA chances was going through his mind, you're insane. You wouldn't be upset to have your life long dream as well as millions of dollars potentially dashed in one play of what will be your final college game?

Maybe I'm crazy, but I have a feeling that a knee injury in the final 4 against Duke might have slightly different emotional connotations than your knee injury wherever you might've been.

[timmynausea]

And now, per Adam Zagoria, the MRI comes back:

West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler has a torn ACL, minor MCL sprain and 2 bone bruises, per West Va. sources.