2018-19 College Basketball thread

[rjolley]

Congratulations to my alma mater, the 2019 undefeated Div II men's basketball national champions, the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats! Second title in 3 years.

Great job by Coach McCollum and the Bearcats. Was nervous there for a bit, but they took care of business against a good Point Loma team and the Div II player of the year.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Really? I've been quite impressed with him as an analyst.

I have to say I've been too - after listening for a while and they announced who was in the booth I was like "whaaa?"

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Nope, in neither contest. Not sure when that became a thing.

It's got to be due to some law somewhere where it's illegal to offer a monetary prize to the winner of a bracket but not illegal to offer a ticket to a totally random drawing to people who score above a certain threshold in said bracket. Like, a bracket can be rigged by bribery, but a sweepstakes is considered easier to keep clean.

[JonInMiddleGA]

4/4 today in the women's bracket. I'm tied for 10th.

Interesting thing I noticed: of the 9 people ahead of me, none have the same eventual champion I have. There are 26 of us tied for 10th. Five have the same winner I have.

[HomerSimpson98]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The season, bright as it was, probably ended the way it had to. (and exactly in the spot/to the team I predicted). They started 23-1, they finished 8-5 down the stretch.

They were talented but thin, one of the thinnest rosters in terms of productivity/reliability I can remember watching since seeing Georgia Tech roll out the "Thin Gold Line" night after night (and that was nearly 30 years ago). That takes a toll, as does doing everything the hard way which was just about all they knew for the last month. Lose a half step here, a step there, just from being worn down & it makes a difference.

They're a good group of people I think, incredibly easy to root for. Indeed a beat writer summed up a lot of things I've seen when he said something to the effect that "as big a loss to the basketball program as the seniors will be, they might be an even bigger loss to the campus & the community". They proved that success without Bruce Pearl IS possible, something that a lot of doubts existed about.

And while I know he seems to be kind of polarizing and I'm very aware of his post-season history, I have to say that Rick Barnes has been a very pleasant surprise to me. When he was hired I figured they had, at most, a caretaker for the program for a while. Or worse, a guy looking to collect a few final paychecks. Instead, by all accounts he's worked his butt off and done a lot to try to create a culture such as really hasn't existed at any point in the program. He's earned his checks & then some.

Excellent post - and I agree

[JPhillips]

The games tonight have been fantastic.

[bhlloy]

Yup - almost good enough to make up for a relatively dull tournament before that

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by rjolley

Congratulations to my alma mater, the 2019 undefeated Div II men's basketball national champions, the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats! Second title in 3 years.

Great job by Coach McCollum and the Bearcats. Was nervous there for a bit, but they took care of business against a good Point Loma team and the Div II player of the year.

Congratulations!!!

[Edward64]

Not a big basketball fan (or at least since the 90's with Nolan Richardson). But good to see UK is still in it, hope they make it to the big dance.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oregon holds off Miss State and my women's bracket continues, now tied for #3 nationally.

There's a solo #1 (1070 points) then a solo #2 (1060 points), then I'm part of an 11 entry tie for #3 (1050 points).

Of those, only one of the other T3s has the same champ I have.

[tarcone]

Iowa women play Baylor at 6 pm monday on ESPN.
Iowa has the Espn PoY, Megan Gustafason. She is a beast. Scored 47 in B1G championship game against Maryland.
Baylor is great. They have a post who is a beast.

Should be a fun game.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Not a big basketball fan (or at least since the 90's with Nolan Richardson). But good to see UK is still in it, hope they make it to the big dance.

Yeah, great to see those plucky underdog Wildcats having a good run.

But they are playing Auburn, coached by the biggest slimeball in college hoops, so go Kentucky!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Oregon holds off Miss State and my women's bracket continues, now tied for #3 nationally.

There's a solo #1 (1070 points) then a solo #2 (1060 points), then I'm part of an 11 entry tie for #3 (1050 points).

Of those, only one of the other T3s has the same champ I have.

This continues to be awesome. Keep posting updates

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

This continues to be awesome. Keep posting updates

Thanks. It's been fun. I've been in the upper 1% - 2% several times with the women's brackets but never this late. And certainly not at this level, even just in the double-digits of placement.

[JonInMiddleGA]

What a war of a ballgame AU-UK just had.

CBP might just be the most ethically challenged guy in sports, I can't lie.
But he's a helluva motivator for both players and fanbases.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

What a war of a ballgame AU-UK just had.

CBP might just be the most ethically challenged guy in sports, I can't lie.
But he's a helluva motivator for both players and fanbases.

Another great game.

I hope Iowa helps you win the challenge by beating Baylor.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by tarcone

Another great game.

I hope Iowa helps you win the challenge by beating Baylor.

Alas, my bracket is the other way around. But as a fan I sure wouldn't be upset to see Baylor go down

[Scoobz0202]

Jon, are you the Baylor over Notre Dame bracket in the t3's?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Jon, are you the Baylor over Notre Dame bracket in the t3's?

Nope, I'm the Stanford over Oregon (72-69 tiebreaker)

[MizzouRah]

Way to go Auburn and Michigan State!

[Danny]

Heck of a series of games this weekend

[EagleFan]

If you told me Virginia was going to be the only #1 seed in the Final Four I would have laughed.

[Kodos]

With Duke and Kentucky eliminated, the worst outcomes have now been avoided. Rooting for Virginia or Texas Tech.

[Young Drachma]

Not as impressive as Jon's WBB bracket, but I am playing Starting Ten with some guys who found our version years ago and do it year-round with a ton of sports. Anyway, 107 people in the game and I'm currently 6th but guaranteed to finish no worse than 4th and have a shot to win it if MSU wins it all and Auburn doesn't advance.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Kodos

With Duke and Kentucky eliminated, the worst outcomes have now been avoided. Rooting for Virginia or Texas Tech.

I'm not quite neutral (even though I thought Duke was most likely, I picked Virginia and will win my pool if they win or even lose to Texas Tech in the title game), but this also has the potential for some of the worst basketball to watch since that legendary Michigan State-Wisconsin final four abortion. Auburn's D is more energetic than the other 3, but if they're not hitting 3's all 4 of these teams are much better defensively.

[bbgunn]

Gotta say nice work on the WBB bracket, Jon!

[Brian Swartz]

Why is defensive basketball worse than offensive basketball? I think the game's better when there's a balance, not when it is trivial to score.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by bbgunn

Gotta say nice work on the WBB bracket, Jon!

Thanks. I have to admit that I find it pretty funny that my FB post about it (before any games tipped off) was something to the effect that I had less confidence in my picks than any year I could remember.

That's the honest-to-God truth, so nobody is more surprised by this run than me.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Why is defensive basketball worse than offensive basketball? I think the game's better when there's a balance, not when it is trivial to score.

I think this is the point when you are called an old man.At least that is what everyone says to me when I talked about my enjoyment of good defensive basketball.

One reason may be that it is hard for some to tell when bad offense ends and good defense begins. The same could be said for good offense and bad defense.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I think this is the point when you are called an old man.At least that is what everyone says to me when I talked about my enjoyment of good defensive basketball.

One reason may be that it is hard for some to tell when bad offense ends and good defense begins. The same could be said for good offense and bad defense.

I enjoy a clash of styles, but you have two top ten defensive teams who are sub-200 in pace on one side, and Virginia who is dead last in pace on the other (and has been dead last in pace for a few years iirc). Maybe these games do end up being well played like the Michigan State-Michigan B10 final, but there's also the potential for games like Oregon-Virginia and Michigan-Texas Tech.

Btw, I love that Coach K is starting to get a little pushback. I've always hated him more for his hypocrisy and arrogance, but Duke's end of game offense vs UCF (where Zion/Barrett bailed them out) and Michigan State was putrid. Wasting copious amounts of time even though they were down, no semblance of a plan beyond iso ball, and seemingly no intent to run the offense through the best offensive player inside 10 feet college has seen in a decade. https://twitter.com/rodger/status/1112502158199447552

[spleen1015]

I've disliked RJ Barrett pretty much the whole season, starting with the Gonzaga game. When he didn't dump off at the end of the game when getting tripled teamed at the rim, that told me what I needed to know. He did that sort of thing a ton! How many times did they run the same play last night where he drove left off a pick, got double or triple teamed at the rim and blocked? A bunch down the stretch.

Despite all of the winning this team did, it was constructed poorly and the game plan was bad. You can't keep shooting 3s when you're the worst 3 point shooting team in the history of Duke.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Despite all of the winning this team did, it was constructed poorly and the game plan was bad. You can't keep shooting 3s when you're the worst 3 point shooting team in the history of Duke.

Agree 100 percent. They struggled against the zone, Barrett seems overrated. This team was only as good as Zion could take them.

Tre Jones was another annoying piece. Great defender and decent playmaker but as far as shooting he was far off the caliber of a Duke point guard.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Calipari gets lifetime deal from Kentucky, will stay as ambassador once he steps aside coaching

[dawgfan]

So it looks like Jamie Dixon or Mick Cronin for the UCLA job.

[tarcone]

Iowa gets whooped as expected. But Megan Gustafason Finished the season scoring 1001 points and is the NCAAs all time leading rebounder

[JonInMiddleGA]

From tied for #3 in the country after today's first NCAA women's tournament game ... to tied for #1722 and basically done after Notre Dame rallied from seven down at the half and routed my pick to win it all, Stanford.

Hey, it was a fun run while it lasted.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

From tied for #3 in the country after today's first NCAA women's tournament game ... to tied for #1722 and basically done after Notre Dame rallied from seven down at the half and routed my pick to win it all, Stanford.

Hey, it was a fun run while it lasted.

Boo. My favorite part of the postseason is now gone.

Grats on a hell of a run!

[Breeze]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Boo. My favorite part of the postseason is now gone.

Grats on a hell of a run!

Second!

[Schmidty]

Is there a good way to watch the Final Four online? I don’t want to have to sign up for anything. I don’t have television (cable or satellite), and it seems like the official apps want you sign in to your television provider, which I obviously can’t do.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting times around some women's colllege basketball programs.

Geno at UConn talked today about how coaches have to coach with one hand tied behind them with the current generation of players ... and I'm in complete agreement with him on that point.

The tricky part is that there are bad guys on both sides of the line.

Georgia Tech is in a helluva mess. Suspended (and ultimately fired) their women's b'ball coach due to an investigation that found she " bullied and manipulated them and was mentally, emotionally and verbally abusive." Her attorneys swear it's all just retaliation for her having some Title IX issues, former players jumped up to defend her ... and then players dating back to her time as an assistant supported the claims, one additionally claiming sexual advances that she rebuffed (that player would ultimately transfer & continue her career elsewhere).

Meanwhile at UNC hall of fame coach Sylvia Hatchell and her entire staff are suspended while an outside investigation tries to “review and assess the culture”.

The remarks from Auriemma today included this "What is the right way, and who is going to decide what the right way is? "

That last bit is what worries me, as I certainly don't have any confidence in the academic administrations to draw those lines appropriately. I have little faith in the snowflake generation to draw them either. At the same time, there are bad actors on the coaching side of things as well, so I'm not sure entirely self-policing is an answer either. I guess that puts me in the same leaky boat with Geno "I don't know what the answer to that is."

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Is there a good way to watch the Final Four online? I don’t want to have to sign up for anything. I don’t have television (cable or satellite), and it seems like the official apps want you sign in to your television provider, which I obviously can’t do.

CBS sports should let you.

If not google Reddit NCAA mens bb streams. Just make sure you have a good anti virus program

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Lathum

CBS sports should let you.

If not google Reddit NCAA mens bb streams. Just make sure you have a good anti virus program

Thanks. I use my tablet a lot, so I’ll look into security apps.

Maybe there’s an app on my smart TV for CBS. I’ve never even checked the apps there.

[BishopMVP]

I've used reddit's ncaa streams and nba streams to get Celtics games when I'm in the south with no problem. I use adblocker plus on Chrome, just make sure you only click where it's necessary to play the video (many of the good ones like buffstreams it's just a big play button in the middle of the video box), and avoid all the flashing lights and Click Here's in other parts of the screen.

[Scoobz0202]

Yea, usually with Reddit I've found the higher upvoted streams tend to have minimal bullshit around it. It's not perfect because at the end of the day its the nature of illegal streams, but it's not as bad as it was 5+ years ago.


But I've since switched to a paid IPTV. Still illegal as hell, but better.

[cartman]

Buzz Williams to Texas A&M is now official

[MrBug708]

UCLA is closing in on Jamie Dixon

[cartman]

Longhorns claim 'best of the rest' with their NIT win.

[BishopMVP]

Nice breakdown of Texas Tech's reliance on forcing teams away from the middle and sending aggressive help D. Why Texas Tech and Michigan are the Best Defenses in College Basketball - YouTube

[digamma]

Stackhouse to Vanderbilt!

The exclamation point is that is one of the few jobs (maybe one of three) that could cause Harvard to look for a new coach.

[miami_fan]

Wow