After having some NCAA ball conversations with guys like MickZagger, VanillaGorilla, and RunBJM in the draft thread, I figured I'd start a thread about college ball in the OT. Every time I post about NCAA ball about in the NCAA forum or the random thoughts thread, it falls of deaf ears. I figured a thread about the NCAA game on the Blazers OT forum is long overdue. No emphasis on NBA potential, just some straight-up NCAA basketball discussion.
Nice to see Florida go down. Maybe my Zags can bump up a little bit. Great game between Michigan/OSU. Craft vs. Burke was fun to watch. Good no call at the end. Burke is good, as I said before, he reminds me a lot of DJ Augustine.
You know, I'm perfectly okay with that no-call as well. I've heard a lot of people bitch about it, but the way the game was being officiated, that might not have even been called in regulation. Different conferences play different styles, and in the Big Ten, they usually allow for a little more physical contact, hence the low scoring games. If they were going by the letter of the law, then Craft would have been called for a flagrant against Glenn Robinson III. It was technically a flagrant, but the refs let it slide because it was incidental and they didn't want it to determine the outcome of a great, tightly contest game, just like on Craft's last drive to the basket. This is really the best time to be a college basketball fan though, in the thick of conference play. After watching the Minnesota/Mich St. game tonight, I saw that there were only two games on afterwards - Kansas/TCU and Iowa/Wisconsin. Both games looked like boring games on paper, not worth watching, but I wound up watching a top 5 upset (first in TCU's history) and a 2OT game in Madison. I don't get how there are NBA fans that don't like NCAA ball, much less put it down.
I haven't watched Minnesota much. What is that team all about? Fill me in. Kansas loses another one, its going to interesting this year seeing who deserves a 1 seed and who gets looked over.
I'm really impressed with Minnesota. Tubby's always had the pieces there, but they've always had something standing in the way of them really breaking out. I remember a few seasons ago, I wrote something in the preseason, either for s2 or another site, about how I thought they were a Final Four caliber team, but then Royce White got arrested, Mbakwe got hurt, Nolen got suspended, and Rodney Williams hit a wall. As for this year's team, Trevor Mbakwe isn't a real offensive threat, but he's your prototypical Big Ten enforcer, ala Reggie Evans or Aloysius Anagonye. Rodney Williams is still more of an athlete than a basketball player, but he's still able to make plays that no one else in the Big Ten has the ability to make. The real pulse of the team comes from the backcourt though, with the Hollins'. Dre Hollins and Austin Hollins (the son of Grizz coach Lionel Hollins) are both from Memphis, and strangely enough, they're not related, despite the fact that Dre looks more like he's Lionel's kid than Austin does. Dre's your prototypical high-scoring guard that can put the team on his back. He's one of those guys, like Dee Brown was, that will have a hand in his face all night and hit the important shots. You can look at the stats and say that he's only getting 14 ppg, but that's largely due to the low-scoring Big 10 style of play. When you get 20 points and your team only puts up 44 points, that's saying something. Long story short, I think Minnesota finally has all of the talent to make a run in March. I think there are a lot of paper tigers in the rankings right now, but I don't think Minnesota is one of them, despite the loss tonight. They have the potential to be that dangerous 4-6 seed that winds up making a deep run in March, after being battle tested with their regular season schedule.
I like it man, I'm just so busy working and traveling I don't have the time. NBA LeaguePass and movies on my MacBook is all I have time for.
A near-half court buzzer-beater heave to force an OT win against a top 5 team, a bubble team knocking off another top five team in a rivalry game at home, and a 5 OT game between two top 25 teams... that was the day in college basketball. ...but forget that, the Jazz were upset by the Kings in the game of the night in the NBA world!
Miami might be the best team in the country right now Voodoo. They're stacked and play great defense. Former Zag recruit Kenny Kadji is looking like an NBA guy. Shane Larkin's a steady point. They have options. Larranaga's done a damn good job with that program.
I like what Miami's doing. More than anything, they have a lot of experience, which is always undervalued in the "1-and-done" times that we're living in. The only player in their rotation that's not a junior, senior, or 5th year (Kadji/McKinney-Jones) is Larkin, and even he's at least played a season of NCAA ball.
Most of my NCAA thoughts right now are where (or maybe I should say if) the Ducks will be seeded. With the 3 game skid I think they are out of the West region and also out of a top 8 seed. After getting stiffed last year I think they will get some love this year as they have proven to the NCAA they are for real.
Doubtful. UNC won the ACC the past two years and made it to the sweet 16 as well. Not to mention Roy's brought two championships to the school. The loss to Dook was tough but I think it was a turning point. Carolina came within a few free throws of beating Dook at Cameron. They'll make the tournament.
Did anyone see my Vols destroy Kentucky? Trae Golden had 24 points on 6/8 shooter with 8 assists and no turnovers. Tennessee will be dangerous next year, if not this one.
Yeah I watched a lot of that game. Kentucky got blitzed and they look completely lost. This is the downside of relying on freshman. Sometimes you can get incredibly advanced and intelligent guys who can mentally keep up with Jrs and Srs (MKG, A. Davis, D. Rose). Sometimes you get freshman who will be overwhelmed and confused in adverse situations. They're still very talented but closer to the talent level of the opposition, and with much less savvy.
